


there's something wretched about this (something so precious about this)

by wherehopelies



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/F, Horror, It's actually not really Horror and is more Camp, Not quite love at first bite but maybe someday lmaoooo, Pitch Perfect Horror Week, Vampires, this is barely bemily tbh... maybe more toward the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:28:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27106480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wherehopelies/pseuds/wherehopelies
Summary: Set during PP2, Beca and Emily find themselves suddenly turned into vampires. Together, they must learn the ins and outs of vampirism and keep the rest of the Bellas safe, all while prepping for Worlds and trying to get the Bellas reinstated.
Relationships: Emily Junk/Beca Mitchell
Comments: 38
Kudos: 82





	1. Creature Feature

**Author's Note:**

> For PPHW. Hoping to add something for all the days if I don't fall behind. 
> 
> TW: blood, death, vampires, etc, but overall not too scary.

The sounds of the party were a distant hum as Emily walked down the hall. The riff-off was over and everyone was milling around. Emily had slipped upstairs in search of a bathroom, but this house was such a large and confusing maze of a mansion that she was having trouble finding one.

The silence of the upper part of the house felt almost eerie after the cacophony of DSM’s obnoxious celebration. How could one basement door drown out all that sound? She picked up her pace, not wanting to be alone in this weird, creepy goose guy’s house much longer. She wanted to get back to the party. To Benji and the Bellas. 

Emily turned another corner, sighing in relief to see, through the crack in a half-closed door at the end of the hall, the rim of a toilet bowl. She really had to pee.

She slowed her pace now that the bathroom was in sight, her footsteps muffled on the expensively ornate carpet. A door creaked behind her and she glanced over her shoulder with a frown, but there was nobody there. The door to her left seemed to have swung open. 

She paused, unsure why goosebumps had suddenly risen on her arms. 

“Benji? Is that you?”

But there was no response. Emily shook her head. She was being dumb. Best to pee and get back as quick as possible.

As she went to enter the bathroom, though, she thought she saw a shadow move in her periphery. She turned, on instinct, to look and --

Rolled her eyes. It was just a stupid decorative goose statue. 

And that’s the last thing she saw before it all went black.

//

The next moments were hazy. There was a sharp pain in her body, like freezer burn in her veins. Her head spun. Someone was above her, their presence cold and looming, but her vision was cloudy.

She tried to move, fear gripping her chest, but her limbs weren’t cooperating.

Paralyzed, she gasped for breath, vomit rising in her throat. 

Then -- a loud thump. 

Someone was speaking (or were they screaming her name?). Another thump. A hiss.

Suddenly, like she’d jumped in an ice bath, the freezer burn intensified. The voice was speaking to her, coming through like a staticky radio. Emily couldn't make out the words, couldn’t even tell if it was friend or foe, high or low, rough or soft. 

The pain was overwhelming, now, hot and red in her chest. Her muscles ached and strained against it, but it was no use. She knew what was happening and she tried to fight it, but what was the point? She was dying.

_ I don’t want to die _ , she thought, and it was the only thought that was coming in clearly. 

She screamed -- at least, she thought she screamed, but her jaw was clenched tightly in pain -- and tried to stand, to roll, to do  _ anything _ . But she couldn’t move. 

She laid there, gasping for breath, feeling hot wetness on her cheeks. Was it tears or blood or…?

“Shit,” the voice coughed. “God. I’m so fucking sorry, Em, I didn’t know what else to do.” 

That voice, breaking through the fog of pain. She knew that voice. 

_ Beca? _ She said, but all that came out was “hrrghh.”

Then she passed out again.

//

Emily opened her eyes to the sound of Alanis Morissette. 

(She’d never forget that. She woke up for the last time ever to Alanis Morissette's Head Over Feet. She guessed it's better than her alarm clock.)

She came to consciousness sharply but slowly. She did not gasp for breath. She found she did not need to inhale or exhale at all. 

She blinked her eyes open, squinting in the harsh light. The bed below her was soft. She shifted her body, expecting pain or soreness or at least stiffness, but she felt fine.

Rather, she felt… great. If anything, she was only very thirsty.

She turned her head, taking in the unfamiliar room. Or, the mostly unfamiliar room. She had been in here, just once before, that first week when she received a tour of the Bella house.

She was in the loft -- in Beca and Amy’s room.

Across from her was obviously Amy’s side of the room, messy and cluttered with Amy’s clothes. She figured she must be in Beca’s bed. 

And there, at the desk, was Beca. 

Emily stared at her for a moment, trying to find her voice, trying to adjust to being awake. Beca was mouthing along to Alanis Morissette absentmindedly while she scrolled through something on her computer screen.

Finally, Emily cleared her throat, which was, she thought suddenly, burning. Beca whipped her head around to look at her.

“Hey,” she said, immediately pausing the music and pushing to her feet. “You’re back.”

Back from where? Emily thought. 

“Uh,” she rasped. Wow, her throat was dry. “How did I get here?”

Beca moved closer and perched on the end of the bed. She pursed her lips, unsmiling. “Do you… remember anything?” 

Emily did remember, suddenly, that she’d been at the weird underground a cappella competition thing, but how had she gotten home? Had she drank that much? No, she knew. She hadn’t. She’d had half of one beer, trying to force it down after she’d lost them the riff-off, but it had tasted gross and she’d only been able to take it one tiny sip at a time.

She lifted a hand to her head, expecting a headache, but she really did feel great.

Besides her throat being dryer than the desert.

“Do you have any water?” She asked Beca.

Something flickered in Beca’s face. Something Emily thought was dread. “In a sec. Let’s talk first.” Emily pouted and Beca’s lips minutely twitched. “Sorry. Just… Do you remember  _ anything _ , Em?”

Emily scrunched her eyes closed, trying to remember. “Just… I don’t know. The last thing I remember was trying to go to the bathroom. Then it’s all black. Maybe there was someone? Or…” She frowned. “Two people?”

“That’s it?”

Emily stared at Beca for a long moment. It was hard to think. “I don’t know. Do you have any water? I’m having trouble thinking about much else.”

Beca sighed and reached for a plastic cup on the nightstand, a straw sticking out of the top, but she didn’t pass it over to Emily. Just held it between her palms.

“Something… happened.” 

A deep sense of foreboding suddenly slid from Emily’s stomach and up into her throat. Maybe she remembered hurting, remembered being in a lot of pain, even if she couldn’t feel it now. “Something bad?”

Beca hesitated for a long moment. Finally she said, “I think so.”

“You think so?”

“Well, something bad almost happened. Then…” Beca frowned. “Something else happened and I don’t know if it’s bad. I’m still deciding.”

Beca wasn’t making any sense. “Okay? You’re starting to freak me out, Bec.”

Beca sighed. “Are you in pain?”

Emily shook her head. “No. But I remember… did someone knock me out?”

“Sort of.” Beca glanced away. “Okay, well. So. At the beginning of the year… do you remember the day we went to the car show? And how after that I was really sick for a few days?”

Emily nodded, unsure what that had to do with anything. “Yeah.”

“Well, that night, something happened to me. Like what happened to you. I was walking home from Jesse’s and… I was attacked. I don’t know exactly what happened, but this huge… thing? I guess it was a person -- I mean, sort of a person -- it hit me from behind and the next thing I knew, I was in a lot of pain. Like so much that I thought I was gonna die, dude. But I just… didn’t. I don’t know why they didn’t kill me. But when I woke up, I was down there by the lake, just laying in the grass, and....” Beca looked back at Emily. “I felt nothing. Actually, I felt really great. Just thirsty. I came back here and I couldn’t stop drinking water. Thought it was the worst hangover I’d ever had, except I didn’t have a headache and I didn’t feel nauseous and no matter how much water I drank, I couldn’t make the thirst go away”.

Beca sighed, shrugging. “For a few days, I thought I had some weird new flu or something. I didn’t sleep. I didn’t eat. I didn’t go to the bathroom. But I didn’t even need to. I couldn’t make my throat stop burning. But other than that, I felt fine, so I didn’t know what to do. Finally, Jesse came over with some movies to take my mind off of it.” Beca stopped suddenly and looked back at Emily. “Horror movies, because they’re the only movies I actually don’t find super predictable. Figures.” She rolled her eyes. “We watched  _ Fright Night.  _ Have you ever seen it?”

Emily, completely not following the progression of this timeline and not understanding how Beca could be so calm about any of this, shook her head. “No?”

“Right. Probably not your type of movie. Creature features, right? Lots of creepy stuff. Inhuman things? Scary things. Unbelievable things. But then, you know, none of this is really believable, and yet…”

Emily hummed, completely lost. “Beca… I don’t get… you were  _ attacked _ ?”

“Yeah, and… turned.”

“Turned?”

Beca clenched her teeth. “It’s crazy. I know it’s crazy, okay? But… I haven’t found a better explanation. And the blood,” Beca waved the cup a little. “It helps. So.”

“Blood?” Emily squeaked.

Beca continued as if Emily hadn’t said anything. “At the competition party thing. I  _ heard _ you, from downstairs. Over the music, over all that distance. I  _ felt _ it, like, some intuition-type thing in my stomach. Like a tingling on the back of my neck. When you went to the bathroom, something was off. I tried to follow as fast as I could, but I was too late. He was gonna kill you, dude. I didn’t know what to do, so I just… Panicked. I’m sorry.”

A stab of fear sliced through Emily. “Kill me?”

Beca nodded. “I mean, he… sort of did, but also, like… not.”

“Um.” Emily put her face in her hands. “I’m so confused. Are you saying he killed me, but you saved me and brought me back to life?”

“Not to life. Just like…” Beca pinched the bridge of her nose, thinking. “Okay, don’t freak out, but like,” she sighed again. “I think you’re dead right now. And so am I.”

“Dead?! Beca,  _ what _ ?”

“Look, I know it’s crazy! But,” Beca shrugged. “Try to find your pulse.”

“Bec.”

“Just try.”

Emily hesitated, but then pressed her fingers to wrist. Her neck. Against her chest. There was nothing there.

Emily was really starting to flip her shit now. “How are we here? Are we ghosts? How are we touching these solid things? I’m not sinking through the bed. Are we in these clothes forever? What do --”

“Em,” Beca interrupted, pressing her palm on Emily’s knee. “Chill. We’re not ghosts.”

“But we’re dead?”

Beca tilted her head to the side. “Undead, I think.” Her eyes locked on Emily’s. “In between. We’re, like, vampires, dude.”

If Emily could feel her pulse, she was sure it would have sped up. “Vampires? Beca,  _ what _ ?”

Beca shrugged. “I told you it was crazy. But,” she gestured to the inside of Emily’s wrist. “That’s where I…” She grimaced, “bit you, see?”

Emily looked down. At first, she didn’t see anything. Then she twisted her arm and it caught the light, a pale, white set of marks. They looked like... teeth. Instinctively, she stuck her finger in her mouth and --

“Whoa. Sharp!”

For the first time since Emily woke up, Beca laughed. “Uh, yeah.”

“Wait. So do you have these marks too?”

Beca held her arm out and pointed at the crease where her arm bent at the elbow. On the inside of her arm, just like Emily’s, two nearly invisible marks.

“I thought vampires sucked blood out of people’s necks?” Emily frowned. 

Beca shrugged. “I guess it really can be anywhere near a vein probably? I don’t know. I’m not a vampire expert, dude. I’ve been one for like a month.”

“Wow.”

Beca’s lips quirked upward slightly. “Yeah.” She held the cup in her hands out to Emily. “Here. I know you’re… thirsty. Water’s not gonna help, so… sorry about that. But this is, uh, good stuff.”

Emily took the cup from Beca and tentatively peered inside. The liquid was red and thick and it smelled… 

Emily had always hated the copper-penny smell of blood, but this smelled  _ so _ good. Her throat flamed. 

“Oh.”

“It’s not from anyone specific. It’s just…” Beca grunted at herself. “It’s from the University hospital. I have a small stash.”

Emily stared down at the liquid in the cup. No way. She did  _ not _ want to drink it. Except -- she wanted to drink it  _ so _ bad. Hesitantly and trying not to think about it, Emily brought the straw to her lips. The second it hit her tongue, slid down her throat, Emily’s entire body relaxed. She hadn’t even realized she’d been so wired. She took another slow sip. It tasted kind of like lukewarm water, but thicker and saltier.

“Once you get over what it is,” Beca was saying. “It’s not so bad.”

Before she knew it, she’d drunk the whole thing. Beca didn’t seem surprised. Sheepishly, Emily handed the cup back to her.

Beca set the cup back on the nightstand and looked at her thoughtfully. “You’re being like… really chill about this.”

“It feels fake,” Emily answered honestly. “Even though it’s like… instinctively I can feel what you’re saying is true.” She took a deep breath. “I have a lot of questions.”

Beca gave her a small smile. “I know. I probably don’t have the answers.”

“That’s my first question. How did you not freak out doing this alone?”

Beca raised an eyebrow. “Who says I didn’t?” She laughs to herself. “It’s like you’re feeling now. That instinct. I couldn’t shake it. I somehow just… knew. What to do and what was right. I don’t know.”

“Do the other Bellas know?”

Beca’s eyes widened. “God, no. What would I say?” She gave Emily a skeptical look. “Do you wanna tell them?”

Emily thought about it for a second. “No, I guess not. I’d seem more out of my mind to them than I already do. But maybe I would if you weren’t here and I was doing this alone. Amy would probably tease me into the next century, though. ” She frowned. “Are we gonna live forever?”

“I don’t know.”

“Who turned us into vampires?” 

Beca’s lips thinned. “I have a theory, but I don’t know for sure.”

“Do we have to… drink blood a lot?”

“Not that much. I haven’t exactly tested the boundaries here. I know about as much as you do. I’ve just been figuring it out as I go.”

Emily frowned. “Alone?” When Beca nodded, something occurred to Emily. “Is this why you broke up with Jesse.”

Beca sighed. “Yeah, obviously.”

“Right.” Emily hummed, trying to take it all in. It was a lot. “Well,” she said. “Whether good or bad or whatever we’re still deciding,” Beca’s lips twitched at that, “I guess we’re in this just the two of us. So maybe we can figure it out together?”

Beca nodded, relief washing over her face. Emily didn’t know if it was relief that she wasn’t mad or relief that Beca wasn’t alone anymore. 

“Together,” Beca said.

“Together,” Emily agreed. She gave Beca what she hoped was a reassuring smile. Then she cleared her throat. “Hope this isn’t rude or something, but, um, do you have any more of that blood?”

Beca’s face opened in surprise. Then she laughed. Nodding, she stood up and moved toward the minifridge at her desk.

Emily still had a lot of questions, the main ones being  _ who turned us into vampires _ and  _ am I gonna live forever now? _ , but the answers to those would have to wait.

For now, she’d just have to try not to think about how blood was probably gonna be her new favorite beverage.

Ugh. Gross.


	2. Unusual Familiars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beca and Emily test the waters of vampire lore, leading them to discover a cool vampire trick. Beca's attempt to find answers doesn't go as planned.

The weeks after Beca had turned Emily were probably the weirdest weeks of her life.

Well, not the ultimate weirdest weeks of her life. Those were the weeks right after she herself had been turned. But these weeks were a very close second.

While Beca had toiled and suffered and languished trying to figure out what to do, Emily, for some unknown reason (perhaps it was just an Emily-thing), seemed to take being a vampire in stride. It was as if she had simply made a new lifestyle choice, and Beca was just along for the ride.

And  _ boy, _ was she along for it. Emily was, for better or worse, the only person in the world she suddenly didn’t feel alienated by, even if nobody else knew just how alienated that was. But as it was with music, so it was with being a vampire. There were some things about Beca that Emily just  _ got,  _ the vampire thing being one of them, and, consequently, they were now spending every waking moment together. And when you were a vampire, every moment was indeed waking.

“We don’t sleep?”

“No.”

“Wow, I’m gonna have  _ so _ much extra time now to do the stuff I always wanted to do. Maybe I should get a hamster.”

Beca also noticed that, while she herself had stumbled along trying to learn the ropes of vampirism while knowing fuckall about vampires, Emily seemed to have a very clear idea of what being a vampire entailed according to popular media, and she was constantly trying to prove these notions true or false.

“Okay, so the reflection thing isn’t real? That’s weird.” She said one night when they were in Beca’s room. Beca was trying to work on the set for World’s (yeah, apparently she still had to indulge in these normal life tasks), but she wasn’t exactly inspired. Amy was at Bumper’s and some time around 2AM, Emily had come waltzing into Beca’s room and flopped herself on Beca’s bed, chattering away about anything and everything.

Beca was used to it now, Emily’s constant presence in her life, her need for endless conversation. What she wasn’t used to was the silence that followed Emily’s question about reflections. Beca looked over her shoulder to see what Emily was doing.

She’d stood up and was staring at herself in Amy’s floor length mirror, frowning slightly.

“You good, bud?” Beca said, not liking Emily’s expression at all. 

Emily’s eyes focused back, her gaze meeting Beca’s in the mirror. “I just look different. I don’t know.”

Beca raised an eyebrow. “You think? You look the same to me.”

“No.” Emily shook her head, adamant. “You look different, too. Just, like, barely. I can’t tell why, though. Here, look.”

She took a step back and gestured toward the mirror. Beca, curious and wanting to placate Emily, stood up and migrated in front of the mirror. She looked at herself, long and hard. It was weird. She hadn’t, when alive, spent much time looking in the mirror. At least past the surface-level action of putting on her makeup and making sure her outfits matched.

Now, though, she looked deeper, taking the time to let her gaze travel over her face, her body.

She hummed thoughtfully. “It’s the changing stuff. It’s gone.” She gestured toward her face. “Like, no acne, no bags under your eyes, perfect pores.” Then she poked Emily in the bicep. “And look, you’re leaner, not just a scrawny string bean.”

Emily scrunched her nose, pouting. “I’m not a string bean.”

“Not anymore,” Beca laughed. “Haven’t you noticed you’re way stronger.”

Emily nodded. “I mean, yeah. But it’s not like I have hulking muscles to show for it. It’s against physics.”

Beca grinned at her in the mirror. “So is being dead and alive at the same time, dude.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Emily rolled her eyes, nudging Beca playfully. Her gaze moved back over their reflections. “Speaking of impossible physics, I’ve been meaning to ask you. Do you feel this weird like… gravitational pull inside you sometimes?”

Beca frowned. “Pull? What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, I can’t really describe it,” Emily shrugged. “It’s like, in my stomach. And I don’t mean the blood thing. Not thirst. It’s like…” She grunted. “That instinct thing, you know? There’s this instinctual pull in my stomach, and I want to focus on it, but… ‘Kay, like wait.”

Beca watched curiously as Emily scrunched up her face, like she was thinking hard.

“Oh,” Emily suddenly said in a small voice. Then --

There was a rush of wind, manufactured from nowhere, a spin in the air. And Emily was gone.

Beca gasped (a habit of old and completely unnecessary) and had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.

Next to her, where Emily had been, was now a small, fluffy, black cat.

Beca gaped. The cat spun around, putting its front paws on the mirror as it looked at itself.

Beca knew, without doubt, the cat was Emily.

“Dude,” she whispered. The cat dropped back down on four legs, then nudged up against Beca, tail wrapping around Beca’s knees. “How did you do that? What the fuck, dude!”

The cat made a sound that suspiciously resembled a laugh. Then it moved away and --

Another whoosh of air, and Emily was back.

“Whoa,” she said, grinning wide. She pressed her hand to her cheek happily. “Oh my gosh! I was a cat! I was so cute! Beca, did you see me! I was a cat!”

“I -- yeah, obviously I saw you, dude! How did you do that?”

“Oh,” Emily mused. “I don’t know, I just focused on the pull. Don’t you feel it? Like this?”

Whoosh -- a cat.

Beca blinked. Then --

Whoosh -- Emily.

Emily giggled. “That is  _ so _ awesome. You try!”

Beca sputtered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, dude! I can’t do that.”

“I bet you can.” Emily touched her finger to Beca’s abdomen. “Right here. That’s where you feel it. Just concentrate on it.”

Beca frowned. “I can’t, it’s --”

“Yes, you can. Just try!”

Beca looked at Emily’s eager face, sighing. “Fine, but I really don’t think I can…”

She focused on the place Emily told her to, but she felt silly. Not wanting to let Emily down, she begrudgingly closed her eyes, trying to dig deep.

There was nothing there.

Except…

Wait.

Maybe…

Like a small swirl of gravity, there in her abdomen. It pulsed the slightest amount. Beca took a deep breath, centering her focus on it, willing something to happen and --

Her body was wrenched from its form, like the jolt as you crest over the hill on a rollercoaster, poised against gravity before you take the plunge down.

Beca’s head spun, her stomach swooped, and then… she settled.

The room around her was bigger, brighter. She held out her hand, except it wasn’t a hand. It was black and feathery. She looked up, seeing the mirror in front of her. She hopped closer on sharp, taloned-feet, and peered into the glass.

She made a surprised sound, but it came out as a loud caw.

Next to her, Emily laughed and put a hand over her… beak? “Shh!”

Beca was a bird. A big, black bird. More specifically, she thought, she was a crow.

What the fuck, why was she an ugly bird and not a cute cat? Totally not fair.

She focused on that spot inside her, finding it easier now that she knew what it felt like. With another jolt, she whoosed back into her human form.

“Ugh,” she grunted. She felt dizzy.

Emily grabbed her arm, shaking it excitedly. “Tell me this isn’t the coolest thing ever!”

Beca snorted. “Yeah, great, you get to be a cute cat and I’m some creepy bird!”

Emily pouted. “No, you’re totally cool! You’re like… sinister.”

“Sinister!” Beca gaped. “Why would I want to be sinister?”

“I don’t know… it’s vampirey?”

“Ugh, well, when people see cats, they’re all happy and when they see a crow, they’re gonna be like, ‘what the fuck is this crow doing here?’”

Emily laughed. “Yeah, but at least you’re not a bat? How clich é would that be? Ooh, and it’s totally cool, you can  _ fly _ , Beca! Aw, I wish I could fly.”

“Well,” Beca reasoned, “maybe you can change forms if you try? Like why am I bird while you’re a cat?”

Emily hummed, scrunching her face up again. Then she poofed into cat form. Almost immediately, she whooshed back into Emily.

“No, that’s not right. I’ll try again.”

The next minute consisted of Emily popping back into cat form, then almost immediately returning to human form with a disappointed groan. She did this several times before finally giving up and flopping onto Beca’s bed with a pout.

“Guess I’m doomed to never fly. I’m jealous.”

Beca chuckled, perching on the bed next to Emily. “Don’t be jealous. I mean, where would I even fly to?”

“Um,” Emily shrugged. “I don’t know, the grocery store?”

“I don’t eat anymore, why would I go to the grocery store?”

“Well, I don’t know! It’s just the fact that you  _ could _ . You could fly anywhere! It’s awesome.”

Beca squeezed Emily’s knee. “Cats are cool, too. Nobody wants to cuddle a crow.”

Emily snorted. “And you prefer it that way, obviously.”

“Well… Maybe.”

Emily gave her a knowing look. “Mhmm.” Then, for no other reason than to annoy Beca, probably, she whooshed back into cat form.

Beca rolled her eyes. “You better not make a habit of just doing this for no reason. That’s gonna get real old real fast.”

Cat-Emily let out a playful meow and nudged up against Beca’s hand, once. Then she curled up, wrapping her tail around herself, and laid down on Beca’s bed.

“See, it’d be fucking weird if I was just chilling in here as a crow. You got it good.”

Cat-Emily said nothing, just closed her eyes and rested her head on her paws.

If Beca didn’t know they were doomed to an eternity of being awake, she would’ve guessed the cat had fallen asleep.

//

The night was chilly, but Beca didn’t feel the cold. Not anymore.

The sky, starless and black that night, spread out above her like a blanket. She flapped her wings, thinking maybe, just maybe, Emily’d had a point.

The flying thing was pretty cool.

But Beca wasn’t out there for fun, for a nice evening flight. No, Beca had a purpose, and that purpose was walking just below her and twenty feet ahead. 

He was a tall man, almost unusually tall, and familiar to Beca. The night Emily had been attacked, she hadn’t gotten a look at the man’s face, but his height was impossible to miss. 

Beca soared along, following him at what she hoped was a discreet distance, praying the sky, as dark as her feathers, would hide her from view.

The man skulked down the sidewalk, moving faster than possible, even for someone with such long legs. Beca’s hunch, that new intuition that brimmed inside her, told her that he was like her:

No longer alive, not quite dead. Somewhere in between.

She knew he was the one who had gone for Emily that night at the party, but had it been a targeted attack on  _ Emily  _ or had it been just because Emily was there?

This is what Beca needed to know, because there were now two Bellas who suffered the same condition as the man, and if that was purposeful, well…

She wouldn’t let another Bella succumb to the same fate.

For this reason, she followed the man alone, protective of her Bellas and even more so of Emily, who had been so brutally attacked and left to die by the creature below her.

As she flew above him, keeping distance and staring with a critical eye, the man turned a corner and onto a dark street, bordered solely by two chain link fences. In the darkness, now, he was just a hulking shadow, nearly invisible even to Beca’s sharper eyes.

Slowly, she drifted closer, peering into the alley, but still, she found it difficult to see the man.

As she lightly touched down on the top of one of the fences, the man laughed.

“What have we here, then?”

Beca tilted her head, curious. She couldn’t see what he was doing. What was he referring to?

The man turned and the crescent moon cast a feeble light on his waxy face. He grinned at her, fangs flashing even in the darkness. 

“Gute Nacht, Bella.”

Then he lunged, faster than humanly possible. But, of course, he was no longer quite human.

Beca let out a caw as his fingers gripped her throat. She jerked her body as hard she could, but the vampire was strong, and he was big, and he had taken Beca by surprise.

“Gotcha,” he sneered. “And now what to do with you?”

Beca cawed again, frantic. 

“Did you really think you could sneak up on me? I’ve been in this game much longer than you,” the vampire hissed. “See, this is just no fun. I could so easily end it all for you right now. You’re just a baby. Do you even know how to kill a vampire? Not exactly a fair fight is it?”

Beca jolted her body, kicking out with her talons. Of course, the man felt nothing. He did not need to breathe, his skin was tough, he was, for all intents and purposes nearly indestructible, and worse than that, he was right. 

Beca did not know how to kill a vampire. She wouldn’t even know where to start.

Her mind whirred. Her lifeless heart remained still and unbeating in her chest, and yet it panged with fear. She had made such an effort to shake Emily off for the evening, because what excuse could you give to someone for going out at this time of night, even when you didn’t need to sleep?

Beca thought, distraught, what if she had turned Emily that night only to die herself, here and now, leaving Emily to an eternity of solitude? They had said they would take whatever came their way together, but what if Beca was about to break that promise by getting herself killed?

“I see fear in your eyes, even if your heart can’t give you away like the rest,” the vampire husked. “I felt it in your friend, and I almost had her, too. Is that why you’re following me tonight? Her protector, out for revenge? You fool.”

He squeezed her neck harder, twisting slightly. She felt it in her bones, the strain. How easy it would be for him to break her neck. Would that end it? Or would she recover? A slow, painful stitching back together.

Panicked, she did the only thing she could think of -- she honed in on that intuition inside her. She didn’t know why, but perhaps, despite her unbeating heart, there was some semblance of human instinct left inside her: the will to survive.

She focused on that pull in her abdomen, and with a rush of swirling air, she whirled back into her human form. 

The vampire cried out in surprise, his fingers loosening around her throat. He laughed, harsh and deep and full of pleasure. It was like a game to him and that thought filled Beca with a fear she hadn’t dared to imagine.

Immediately, she focused on that pull again.

She was a crow once more, ruffling her wings, jerking out of his grip. She beat her wings and with a final yank, she was free. She flapped higher, further, as fast as she could. 

She did not look back.

She did not need to.

Somehow, she knew, she was not being followed. But it was not a relief.

She had the horrible, frightening feeling that the DSM co-captain had let her escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emeowly and Becaw thank you for reading!


	3. Final Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beca and Emily give themselves a moviecation to learn how to kill vampires. The Bellas give Beca and Emily a shocking surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This barely falls under the prompt but im trying ok wkajfseqjgqe

“Okay, go over it again, what did he  _ say _ ?”

Beca pressed her hands over her eyes, shaking her head. “Nothing really, that’s the thing! Just that he could’ve killed you that night and that compared to him, we’re like baby vampires. We don’t know anything. Not even how to kill one.”

Emily was silent for the first time since Beca had arrived back at the Bella house. She’d known immediately that something was wrong and had pestered Beca for every detail of her encounter with the DSM vampire, fawning over Beca and fretting about the room until she’d finally calmed down. 

Beca sighed and looked up. Emily was sitting across from her on the bed, her legs crossed underneath, arms held loosely in her lap. She was staring at the wall, lips twisted in thought. She looked, Beca thought with a jolt of surprise,  _ angry _ . She had never seen that emotion on Emily’s face before.

“I shouldn’t have followed him,” Beca said. “Not on my own. That was stupid. I should’ve told you. We’re in this together and I totally just… betrayed that. I’m sorry.”

Emily’s eyes flickered back to her. She softened, shooting Beca a small smile. “It  _ would _ suck if you died, like, permanently.”

“Please don’t be mad. We could be doing this for centuries and I really don’t want to start them off with you pissed at me.”

“I’m not mad,” Emily frowned. “I’m just… thinking.”

“Of different ways to kill me yourself?” Beca half heartedly joked, but to her surprise, Emily nodded.

“Yes, actually,” Emily said. She looked at Beca curiously. “That’s what he said isn’t it? We don’t even know how to kill a vampire.”

Beca hesitated. “I’m not following.”

“Well, he attacked me, right? Whether he was gonna kill me or turn me into a vampire like he did to you, either way, he’s dangerous. Shouldn’t we know how to protect ourselves? Maybe we should, you know…”

Beca blinked. “Kill him ourselves?”

“Yeah,” Emily whispered, and that anger flashed across her face again. “What if he goes for another Bella next?”

Beca nodded. “I had the same thought. That's kinda why I followed him. But he isn’t even the one who turned me, I don’t think. It was her.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “Her?  _ Her _ as in Kommissar?” When Beca nodded, Emily’s mouth fell open. “There are  _ two _ of them? Are they  _ all _ vampires?”

Beca pursed her lips, shrugging. “I don’t think so. The night I saved you, I could tell the two of them are. But not the rest. They’re still alive. They had heartbeats.”

“Wow, okay.” Emily bit her lip in worry. “Well, that settles it. We have to be prepared just in case.”

Beca grunted. “I mean, okay, but I don’t know how we’re gonna figure it out. It’s not like we can test it on each other.”

“Well, then we do what any college student does when trying to find evidence.”

“What’s that?”

“Research.”

Beca rolled her eyes. “You’re right, let me Google it. Oh, what’s that Google? Vampires aren’t real? Okay, thanks for the help.”

“ _ Movies _ , Bec.” Emily gestured wildly. “There are always facts in fiction and myth. Always.”

Beca groaned. “I am so not watching Twilight, dude.”

“No,” Emily agreed. “The vampire lore in that is so clearly garbage. I meant other stuff.”

“Like what?”

Emily shrugged. “Uh, I dunno. I don’t really watch scary vampire movies.”

“Great,” Beca sighed. She knew what she had to do. “I’ll text Jesse.”

//

They spent the next three days and nights holed up in the loft watching vampire movies that Jesse had suggested.

(“Oh, you’ll watch movies with Emily but not with me? I see how it is, Becaw!  _ Now _ I’m starting to get why we broke up.”

“Mind your fucking business, dude.”)

They watched  _ Nosferatu _ (“boring”, claimed Beca),  _ Cronos _ (“interesting”, mused Emily), and  _ What We Do in the Shadows _ (“funny”, they both agreed).

They watched  _ Dracula _ ,  _ A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night _ ,  _ The Addiction _ , the  _ Buffy _ movie,  _ Blade _ , and just about every vampire movie Beca could imagine existed.

The Bellas tried to get them to emerge for dinner, game night, to go get brunch, but Beca and Emily were in agreement. They couldn’t afford to stop until they’d decided on the best course of action when it came to killing vampires. 

Eventually, the Bellas stopped asking. One by one, they stopped climbing the stairs, calling from below, texting them to join. Beca and Emily were on a mission, and they could not be swayed.

“It just seems like the consensus is a wooden stake through the chest,” Emily said for the fifth time over the past several days. They were nearing the end of  _ Van Helsing _ and had already had this discussion several times.

Beca hummed. “I mean the decapitation thing seems legit. That’s what it felt like the DSM dude was gonna do when he grabbed me.”

“Yeah, but do you have to burn the head, then? I mean, what if we can regenerate?”

Beca sighed. “I don’t know. And really, I don’t think we’ll be able to know for sure until we do it.”

Emily paused. “Yeah, or until they do it to us.”

Beca frowned, choosing to focus on the movie instead of the idea of  _ that _ . On screen, the vampire chick was closing in on Kate Beckinsale, giving her evil speech. 

“ _ Anna, my love. It is your blood that will keep me beautiful. What do you think of that?” _

A wooden stake flew through the air and Kate Beckinsale caught it. She plunged it into the vampire’s heart with a grunt.  _ “I think _ ,” she said,  _ “if you’re going to kill someone, kill them. Don’t stand there talking about it _ .”

Beca laughed. “Hell yeah. Okay, see, this is my kind of movie. It’s the perfect amount of horror and comedy. Sure, it’s predictable, obviously she’s gonna kill the vampire, right? But she’s playing into the predictability. The evil guys always give some sort of speech, so she’s calling them on it. Movies might be more watchable if they were all like this.”

Emily hummed, but said nothing. Beca could feel Emily’s eyes on her and she glanced over. Emily was giving her a fond smile. 

“What?” She said, suddenly self-conscious.

“Nothing,” Emily chuckled. “I’ve just had a nice time watching with you the past couple of days. And I’m just…” Emily’s voice turned soft. “Thankful. If I had to be, you know, immortal or undying or whatever, I’m glad. That it’s with you. I’m glad it’s us. And I’m glad it’s not them.”

_ Them _ , Beca thought, meaning the Bellas. 

“Yeah,” she quietly agreed. “Me, too.”

“We have to protect them,” Emily whispered. Her eyes were locked on Beca’s. “Like, that’s up to us. That’s our family and nobody is gonna mess with our family. Not DSM, not vampires, not werewolves or demons or whatever else is out there.”

Beca’s lips twitched. “Werewolves?”

Emily shrugged. “I mean, if vampires are real, surely the rest are too.”

“Great, more myths to unravel,” Beca laughed. “But, yeah, you’re right. I guess it’s kind of our job now, huh? Beca and Emily, the vampire vampire hunters.”

Emily grinned. “Wow, ironic.” She held her pinky up. “Deal, then? Whether this vampire thing is good or bad or whatever we’re still deciding,” Beca smiled at the familiar line, “They stay human.”

Beca nodded and twisted her pinky around Emily’s. “Deal. They stay human.” Then she laughed. “That’s the extent of the deal, though. I’m not doing some werewolf movie marathon next. At least not ‘til next year. You get one a year from me, Legacy. And that’s that.”

Emily smiled, laying her head on Beca’s shoulder to finish the movie. “Deal.”

If they were with Emily, Beca secretly thought, one movie marathon a year might not be so bad.

//

“Have you heard from any of the Bellas today?” Beca asked when the movie had finished.

Emily frowned. “Not since Chloe came up here this morning. Why?”

“The house,” Beca frowned. “It’s been… quiet.”

Emily tilted her head to the side, listening. “But… they’re here. I feel them.”

“It’s dinner time. You know what it’s like at dinner here. Music and screaming and dishes clanging. Why is it so quiet?”

Emily shrugged, then moved for the stairs. Beca followed her down to the second floor of the house. When she stepped foot on the landing, she nearly froze.

The house was dark. There were no lights on in anybody’s rooms, the halls were quiet. They crept past everyone’s bedrooms and to the main staircase. 

Beca peered down to the first floor. It, too, was eerily dark, suffocatingly silent. “Where is everyone?” she whispered.

She listened and heard the sound of several heartbeats. They were faint, but they were there.

“Why aren’t they making any noise?” Emily hissed back. “They’re not asleep, I can tell.”

Beca had a thought suddenly. A horrible thought. A horrible, unbelievable, impossible thought. But now that she’d thought it, she couldn’t unthink it. 

Fear sliced through her.

Emily, as if she could sense what Beca had thought, looked at her with wide eyes.

Simultaneously, they rushed down the stairs, feet stomping, Emily just ahead of her. It was dark. It was too dark. And Beca was sure -- she was so goddamn sure -- that her stunt with the DSM vampire several days had not gone unpunished. That while she and Emily had holed up in her room, they had left the Bellas unprotected and alone. 

Beca turned into the kitchen, where she could hear their hearts the loudest, afraid to look. What would they find when they flipped on the light?

Were they dying? Were they  _ turning? _ Were Beca and Emily the last two, the final Bellas, the result of a horrible sick joke to torture them?

Emily reached the kitchen ahead ahead of her and flipped the light switch.

Beca nearly screamed.

Emily  _ did _ scream. The Bellas, all alive and completely intact, with beaming smiles and beating hearts, had jumped up as soon as the lights turned on.

“SURPRISE!”

Beca was sure if her heart still worked, it would’ve lodged itself in her throat.

“What -- Uhh.” Emily stammered, her hand covering her mouth. Beca had no doubt she’d accidentally extended her fangs. She cleared her throat and dropped her hand. “Surprise?” She said weakly.

Beca looked around at every Bella, just to make sure, just to double check. They were all fine. Perfectly fine. She frowned. “What’s all this?”

“Ahh, we’re just so happy!” Chloe clapped. “We wanted you guys to know we totally support you, so we threw you this party!”

“Support us?” Beca said, dazed. Did they…  _ know _ ? She exchanged a shocked look with Emily. Holy shit.

“Yeah, and it was pretty annoying how you guys didn’t come down stairs  _ all day _ .” Amy huffed. “Not even for one little snack! I was getting pretty over waiting for you.”

Beca opened and closed her mouth several times. “How did you guys figure it out?”

Cynthia Rose snorted. “You aren’t exactly subtle, guys. You’ve been together nonstop and we hear you giggling and stuff upstairs. Emily’s been sleeping in your room every night for weeks!”

“Uhhh,” Emily glanced at Beca. “Sleeping? I mean. Not really..”

“Well, and other things, of course,” Stacie winked.

Beca did not think the Bellas were talking about what Beca and Emily thought they were talking about. “Wait, what is this for exactly?”

Chloe gestured at them. “Because you’re dating! And we’re happy for you!”

Emily let out a high-pitched squeak. “Dating?”

Oh, Beca thought. No fucking way. She met Emily’s eyes to see what to do. It seemed to pass between them instinctually, no words necessary.

“Yeah,” Beca nodded and shrugged weakly. “Right, totally. Damn, you guys got us.”

Emily gave an exaggerated pout. “We thought we were pretty sneaky, but I guess not.”

“It was obvious,” Jessica said.

“Completely,” Ashley agreed.

“So tell us,” Flo grinned. “Was it love at first bite?”

Beca blinked. “ _ What _ ?”

“Was it love at first sight?” 

“Oh,” Beca gave an uncomfortable chuckle. She looked over at Emily.

Emily scrunched her nose at Beca, smiling. “Totally,” she gushed. 

“Aw,” Chloe cooed. “Is it serious, then?”

“Mhmm,” Emily nodded. She gave Beca a playful smirk. “Kinda feels like we’ll be together  _ forever _ .”

“U-Haul is real,” Cynthia Rose agreed. “Anyway, congrats guys! We baked you this cake. Hope you like it!”

Beca frowned, flabbergasted by everything that had happened the last five minutes. She looked at the cake uneasily. Were they supposed to eat that? She literally hadn’t eaten anything since she’d been turned. It all seemed so unappealing now.

“Oh no,” Emily whined. She was such a better actress than Beca. “We  _ just _ ate, you guys. Would you mind if we tried it later?”

Chloe pouted. “Not even a tiny piece?”

“We’re  _ so _ full,” Emily said. “But you guys should  _ totally _ have as much as you want. As a thanks for your support.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Amy said, already cutting into the cake with a knife.

Beca just stood there, dumbfounded. She felt a pair of eyes on her and turned to see Lilly staring at her.

She mouthed something and Beca was sure if she didn’t have extra sensitive hearing now, she would’ve missed it. Nonetheless, she heard it clear as day. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

Beca flinched, her mouth opening in surprise, but Lilly had already turned away, moving toward the cake.

What the fuck? Beca thought. This day was a rollercoaster ride of emotions she didn’t know what to do with. She was having trouble focusing on just one and she felt them swirling in her, turning into a panic.

She felt fingers on her wrist and jumped. Emily gave her fingers a squeeze.

“You good?” She whispered, low so only Beca could hear.

Beca took a moment to center herself. Then she nodded.

There would be time to unpack everything later. For now, she’d just focus on getting through the rest of the night without being forced to eat any human food.

Even if she did really miss things like cake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh????? fake dating tropes in my vampire au? it's more likely than you think!


	4. Possession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beca and Emily take a road trip, but discover the stakes are higher than they expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in the hurtful but true words of my good friend mo: "it's like the she ra save the cat episode." 
> 
> tw for possession. obviously.

The drive from Atlanta to DC was just about ten hours. The good thing about being a vampire, though, was it made road trips super easy.

They didn’t have to stop to rest, to eat, to pee, because they got tired, or for any reason at all, other than the car needing gas. 

Emily drove and drove, and there was no issue at all. Just her and Beca and the open road for ten hours.

At least they had a lot to talk about.

“Are you  _ sure _ they’re at this hotel?” Emily asked for the third time as they exited off the interstate. 

Beca shrugged. “That’s what Chloe’s itinerary said. As long as they followed the same schedule for the victory tour as we were going to, then they’re at this hotel. I can’t say anything about them deciding to change it up, though. So guess we’ll see.”

Since that night a few weeks ago, when they’d thought the Bellas had been attacked or turned or killed, they’d both been on edge. Finally, they decided the best course of action was to go on the offensive. They wouldn’t rest easy until they knew Pieter and Kommissar were dead (in a very final sort of way) or had no interest in turning the rest of the Bellas. So they’d made a plan. They’d seek them out and find out one way or another, killing them if necessary. Anything to keep the Bellas safe.

Emily glanced toward the floor at Beca’s feet, making sure their weapon of choice was still there. Beca had come home with it last week, claiming she’d snuck into the campus woodshop and made it herself.

The wooden stake bumped along against the floor mats as the car made its way down the road. Emily frowned at it.

Beca saw her looking and picked it up. “Do you really think this thing is capable of killing a vampire?”

Emily made a noise of discomfort. “I don’t know. Don’t mess with it, it gives me bad vibes.”

Beca lifted an eyebrow but said nothing in response, just tossed it in the backseat. “Guess it’ll be a surprise,” she grinned. 

“Haven’t we had enough surprises for a few months?” Emily asked, her lips quirking upward when Beca grunted.

“Stop. I’m not over that.”

“Come on,  _ babe _ ,” Emily teased. “Dating me isn’t so bad.”

Beca snorted. “Of course it’s not,” she agreed, and Emily, against everything she’d known since becoming a vampire, felt very warm suddenly. “It’s just funny, is all. They really had me thinking they’d discovered we’re vampires. But no. Fucking  _ dating _ . Jesus.”

“Mmm,” Emily nodded, eyes on the road. Emily had no objections to dating Beca, if she really thought about it. Perhaps, she maybe even wanted to. The idea of kissing Beca certainly made her lifeless heart  _ almost _ give a feeble flip in her chest. 

It’s just that vampires supposedly lived forever, and forever was a very long time to commit to when you were eighteen going on nineteen going on ageless.

So maybe, she thought, she could take these feelings slow. She couldn’t imagine doing any of this vampire stuff without Beca, and if they really did have forever, then what was the rush?

Still, she thought, glancing at Beca’s perfect profile out of the corner of her eye, beautiful and soft in the light of the rising moon. 

Kissing Beca sounded pretty great.

//

The hotel DSM was supposedly staying at was more of a motel situation than a hotel. As they pulled up, Emily noted the flickering  _ Vacancy _ sign, the feeble Christmas lights strung around them. It was, after all, the holiday break. It just didn’t look very… festive. It was poorly lit and exceedingly gloomy. 

Emily had parked the car in the darkest part of the parking lot and they’d sat staring at the doors to the rooms for several hours, unsure what to do now that they were actually there.

“It’s just if we wait for one of them to come out,” Emily said, not for the first time, “the rest of the group might be with them. And you said they were all still alive. They probably don’t even know their captains are vampires!”

“Well what do you want to do?” Beca snipped. “Barge into every room looking for them?”

“I’m just saying,” Emily shot back. “We need a plan.”

Beca grunted. “Well, I’m thinking of one. For now let’s just wait.”

Emily sighed. She was bored. Watching motel room doors for hours was boring.

To distract herself, she reached into the backseat and grabbed the stake, examining it closer.

It wasn’t super well-made, but Beca had gotten the job done. The edges were rough and splintery, but the end was pointy and it was sharp, and Emily thought, if she had to, she could plunge it through someone’s chest with enough force to do what she needed to do.

She shuddered at the thought. Killing something, even something that was already basically dead, wasn’t exactly appealing to her. 

To take her mind off that thought, she looked over at Beca.

Beca was drinking from one of the plastic cups they’d packed in a little cooler, sipping blood through a straw like it was a smoothie. Her eyes stared out the windshield, lost in thought. Her mouth was turned down in worry. 

“You know,” Emily said, wishing for that look to disappear from Beca’s face more than anything. “I’ve always wanted to do something like this.”

Beca glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow. “Something like what?”

Emily tapped the edge of the wooden stake into her palm with a little theatricality. “A  _ stake _ out.”

The straw fell from Beca’s lips as she pulled a face. “Shut the fuck up.” But she was so clearly holding back a smile that Emily couldn’t help but laugh. “Is that what I’m in for? An eternity of puns?”

“ _ Wood _ it be so bad?”

“Oh my God, enough.” Beca plopped the cup of blood in the cup holder, shaking her head. “Okay, for real though, I can’t sit here any longer. I think I should go get a closer look.”

Emily frowned. “A closer look?”

“Yeah. Like, I’ll just creep up there and listen at a few of the doors and see if I can hear them, and you stay here as like, the getaway car.”

“And then what? What if you find them?” Emily shook her head. “What if they find _ you _ ? What if they’re both in one room and they see you? I don’t think you can take them both.”

Beca held out her hands. “Whoa, dude, hold your horses. I’m just gonna listen to see if they’re there. Not confront them. Promise.” Then she scoffed. “And please, I could totally take them.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “No, you couldn’t.” 

“Fine, I couldn’t,” Beca agreed. “But it’s just to get some intel. I’ll be right back and you can keep the car running, just in case!”

“I don’t know, Bec. I don’t like the idea of splitting up.”

“We’re not splitting up,” Beca reasoned. “I’m just going out of the car, but you’ll still be able to see me! I’ll be right there!” She gestured out the windshield toward the motel room doors.

Emily hesitated. “Don’t go where I can’t see you.”

“I won’t, promise.” Beca gave her an easy smile and held out her pinky, like they’d done all those nights ago as they promised to keep the Bellas safe.

Begrudgingly, Emily twisted her pinky around Beca’s. “Fine. Just please be careful.”

“You got it. It will be very low  _ stakes _ .” She winked, and with that, got out of the car.

“Wait!” Emily whispered before Beca could close the door. “Speaking of stakes…” She held the stake out and Beca reached back in the car to grab it. “Just in case.”

Beca grinned at her, waving the stake with a flourish. “Be right back.”

Emily started the car, turning her attention out of the windshield and biting her lip with worry as Beca moved silently toward the motel. As she watched, Beca crept door to door, pausing outside each one for a long moment, blending into the dark shadows and listening.

Outside the last room before Beca would disappear from view, she stood for a very long moment. Longer than she’d stood outside the other rooms. Uneasiness swirled in Emily’s chest, a cloud of uncertainty and fear.

After what seemed an impossibly longer time than necessary, though, Beca turned and started walking back toward the car.

Emily’s entire body sagged in relief.

Curiously, she watched as Beca made her way toward the driver’s side door of the car instead of the passenger seat. 

“What?” Emily asked as Beca opened the door. “What did you find?

Beca stared at her for a beat, and in that beat, Emily felt something  _ wrong _ . The finely tuned instinct that connected her to Beca tingled, and fear, hot and biting, sent prickles down her spine.

Before she could ask, though, Beca had reached into the car and grabbed Emily by the arms. With the ease of vampire strength, she lifted and pulled Emily out of the car.

“Beca!” Emily squeaked as her body slammed back against the car with an inhuman force. She felt the metal dent beneath her. “Beca, what!”

Beca held her pinned against the car and Emily struggled, but she had been taken by surprise, and she was stuck.

Beca laughed, deep and cruel and un-Becalike. “Got ya.”

Emily kicked out, but it was no use. “Beca, stop!”

In front of her, Beca’s face twisted with effort. Her grip on Emily shook. 

“She’s feisty, this one,” Beca growled, and although it was Beca’s voice, it did not sound like Beca at all. “Resistant, isn’t she?” 

Emily could feel the doubt trembling through Beca’s body, that connection between them straining. 

“Beca,  _ don’t _ ,” Emily pleaded, trying to twist from Beca’s grip. 

Beca shook her head, grunting. Her face paled, her eyes scrunched up. “No,” Beca moaned, and Emily felt their connection solidify again, Beca’s fear piercing through her. 

But then Beca’s body heaved, her grip tightening. Her lips slanted upward in a cruel smile.

She leaned in, her mouth close to Emily’s ear. “She doesn’t like me much, does she?” Beca whispered, but it was that Beca-who-was-not-Beca. Emily shivered. “She doesn’t like what we share. But, oh, she can’t get rid of me, can she? Just like you can’t get rid of her. You feel it, don’t you?” And Emily suddenly realized. It was  _ Kommissar _ speaking through Beca. The certainty of it turned her cold.

“Let. Her. Go!” Emily tried with all her might to break free, but she was scared and she was weak, no match for the will of the older vampire.

“I do hate sharing her,” Kommissar mused through Beca, tone bored. “Perhaps it’s time to end your little fling. What do you think?”

Emily had no idea what she was talking about, but it didn’t sound great for her or for Beca. “Leave her alone!”

Kommissar’s laugh spilled from Beca’s lips and she adjusted her grip, holding Emily against the car with one strong hand. With the other, she held the stake against Emily’s chest. The sharp point pressed against her skin.

Emily panicked. “Stop! Beca! Beca, don’t! Please!”

Real fear flashed across Beca’s face, her eyes meeting Emily’s. She grunted, her body twitching. “I’m… trying…” She whispered. Her body gave a violent lurch.

The connection between them waxed and waned, Beca fighting some internal battle Emily couldn’t hear. For a moment, the stake pressed dangerously sharp into her chest, enough that it hurt.

Emily gasped. She had forgotten what pain really was, hadn’t felt it since that night Beca turned her, but God, she felt it then, hot and biting.

Kommissar’s expression twisted across Beca’s face. “Come,” she grunted, and Emily knew she wasn’t speaking to her but to the Beca inside that fought back. “It will be over faster than the blink of an eye. She’ll feel no pain at all.”

“Beca,  _ please _ ,” Emily cried out, fear and panic and desperation taking over. “Together, remember? You promised!  _ Please _ .”

Beca’s body shuddered, her grip on Emily shaking. She let out a strangled moan. Her body lurched, once, twice, then --

The stake fell from her fingers, clattering against the cement of the parking lot. Her grip left Emily’s arms and Emily dropped, sliding down the car door and coming to a rest on the pavement.

Beca’s body wrenched away from her, staggering back several steps.

“Fuck! Off!” Beca yelled, her face screwed up with effort. 

Her body twisted unnaturally, convulsing as it jerked around, spinning in a circle.

Finally, it stilled, poised between falling and standing. It hovered in this half-fall, defying gravity and logic. Beca’s fear and strength and resistance suddenly flooded through Emily like an intake of breath -- and in that moment, her body collapsed to the ground with a final  _ thud _ .

Emily waited for something else to happen, but nothing did. She scrambled up, her body trembling, and ran to Beca.

“Bec,” she murmured, voice shaking. Beca looked at her, face pale and afraid. Emily searched for any sign of Kommissar in her expression, in that lifeline between them, but found nothing. Only Beca. 

“Let’s get out of here,” Beca whispered, voice weak. “Quick. Before she comes back.”

Emily nodded and scooped Beca up in her arms. She ran back to the still-running car, setting Beca in the passenger seat. Then she rushed back to the driver’s side, grabbed the stake from the pavement and threw it in the backseat, then flung the door closed, putting the car in drive. 

She hit the gas with a lead foot, tires screeching across the pavement as she peeled away from the motel.

She glanced in the rearview mirror as she pulled out, just to be sure they weren’t being followed. The curtain of the window to the last room twitched, pulling back.

The last thing Emily saw before the motel was out of sight was the pale face of Kommissar grinning at her through the window.

//

They drove for twenty minutes out of town before either one of them spoke.

Beca had slumped against the car door, weak and tired. Emily drove quickly, casting curious glances at her out of the corner of her eye until Beca suddenly sat up.

“Pull over,” she said, voice hoarse.

Emily frowned at her expression, starting to merge toward the shoulder of the interstate. “Right here?”

“Stop the car,” Beca grunted, and as soon as the car slowed, Beca flung the door open and stumbled into the night. 

Emily turned off the engine and got out of the car, moving to Beca’s side of the car just in time to watch Beca’s body heave. Without warning, she hunched over and puked into the weeds on the side of the road.

All that came up was thick, dark blood. She coughed, spitting a few more times. Then she wobbled back toward Emily and slumped against the side of the car with a groan.

She slid to the pavement, head resting back against the car door.

Emily sat down next to her, frowning. She didn’t know what to say. There was nothing. Beca wasn’t okay and Emily wasn’t going to ask.

She could feel shame and regret coursing through Beca’s body like it was her own. It wasn’t pleasant, but Emily focused on it. If she could feel that, then it meant Beca was still with her, not shoved to a place Emily couldn’t follow.

For her own comfort, maybe, to feel Beca more solidly, she put her arm around Beca and pulled her close.

Beca made a noise in the back of her throat, but didn’t resist. She let her cheek fall against Emily’s sternum. Around them, the night was quiet. It was nearing 3AM and the cars whizzing past them on the highway were few and far between.

After some time, Beca’s hand drifted up toward Emily’s chest. She could feel Beca’s frown on her neck and looked down. Beca’s index finger toyed with a hole in her shirt, the spot where the stake had pressed to her chest.

“It’s fine,” Emily rushed to say. “It’s just a shirt.”

Beca grunted. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t,” Emily said. “That wasn’t you.”

“I know, but still.” Beca sighed. “I didn’t know... That vampires could do that. Possess people. Did you?”

Emily shook her head. “No, and I don’t want to learn how.”

“Me neither. It’s fucked up.”

Emily said nothing, just tightened her grip around Beca, pulling her closer. 

“There’s a lot we don’t know,” Beca said. “I guess we really are just baby vampires.”

Emily nodded. “The stake thing seems to be real, though.” She shifted, remembering the pain she’d felt when it pierced her even a little bit. “I felt it.”

“Sorry,” Beca whispered again.

“There was just something she said that I didn’t understand,” Emily said, ignoring the apology. “That she didn’t like sharing you? What did  _ that _ mean?”

Beca shifted, lifting her head away from Emily slightly. “I think I know.” She glanced at Emily curiously. “Do you know how sometimes we can sense what the other is thinking or feeling without speaking?” Emily nodded, curious. “At first, I thought it was just part of the vampire intuition thing. Like how you figured out how to turn into a cat and how I just kind of… knew what to do when I was first turned. It feels kind of similar. But I think it’s more than that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I hadn’t realized it until tonight, but… I didn’t feel it with Pieter. Not on the night he attacked you and not the night I followed him. But I’ve been feeling it with Kommissar. I thought she was just in my head, you know? But I think she really might actually… be in my head. And I think it’s because she’s the one who turned me. And we can feel it because I’m the one who turned you.”

Emily frowned. “She’s in your head? Like all the time?”

“No,” Beca hummed thoughtfully. “Not in the way she was tonight. Not literally. Just… I can tell when she’s close and what she’s feeling. I can sense it. Kind of the same way I can feel it with you. But also different.”

“Different how?”

Beca shrugged. “I think… it’s not as strong, and it’s sort of warped, I guess? I don’t know. I can’t really describe it, but the feeling isn’t good like it is with us. Maybe because I don’t want it to be there.”

“Oh,” Emily murmured. Did Beca not want to feel it with Emily, either?

As if she knew what Emily was thinking (perhaps she did, perhaps they couldn’t help it), Beca reached for her hand. “It’s different with us. I trust you and you trust me. We’re Bellas and we’re family and…” Beca squeezed her hand. “We’re in this together.”

“Together,” Emily repeated. She looked at Beca for a long moment. “It feels right. That connection between us. I don’t want to lose it. I was scared when she took over you. I couldn’t feel it anymore. But… I get it if you hate it. Especially after what she just did.”

“No, it’s different between us, like I said.” Beca shifted closer, tucking up further under Emily’s arm. She looked at Emily, eyes serious. “But I think if we end up having to fight these guys, you’re gonna have to take her on. I can’t. She’ll use our connection to her advantage. Even if it is weak.”

Emily didn’t want to think about fighting them. The task seemed too large and impossible to face right then. She frowned, lost in thought as she stared out at the dark horizon.

Beca leaned her head back on Emily’s chest. “Em.”

“Hm?”

“It scared me, too. I thought I was gonna...” Beca trailed off.

Emily squeezed her hand. “I’m fine. I’m right here. No harm done.”

Beca was silent for a moment. Then, just barely above a whisper, she said, “I want it. The connection between us. Please don’t think I don’t.”

Emily was frozen, speechless. “Yeah?” She finally managed to get out.

“Yeah.”

“Me, too.”

Emily felt it then, pulsing between them, like a wave of warmth. It was trust and it was love and it was wanting and peace.

She turned her head without thinking, swept up in the feeling, and touched her lips to Beca’s forehead. Beca hummed, a content sound in her throat.

They sat like that for a long time, until the stars began to fade and the sun started to rise. Then they wordlessly climbed back into the car and headed home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ben wyatt voice: it's about the hurt/comfort.


	5. Cursed Object

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Beca and Emily grow closer, chaos ensues at the Bellas' Convention Center performance. Is it classic Bella bad luck, or more sinister forces at work?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im a little late with day 5 so i'll probably be late with rest. good news though i do have a plan for everything so u can bet i'll finish this at least before halloween. cheers.

Emily spent the next several weeks in a near-constant state of anxiety.

Their trip to DC hadn’t provided any answers, only more fears. They had no way of knowing if the undead DSM captains had it out for the Bellas or not, and now Emily was paranoid their visit had triggered a future attack.

On top of that, her school work was busy, the Bellas still didn’t have a Worlds performance to even rehearse, and Emily was on constant alert in case she was somehow being possessed by another vampire without knowing it.

These anxieties were only fueled by Emily’s ability to feel them ten-fold in Beca, who was also juggling her internship and struggling to come up with their Worlds set.

There was an overprotectiveness in Emily now that she hadn’t anticipated. Not that she’d ever really imagined it, but before this whole vampire thing, if she had to guess her relationship to any of the Bellas, it was  _ them _ who would be protective of  _ her _ .

So it was a tough few weeks, and as they passed, Emily found herself leaving Beca’s side less and less.

Emily could still feel guilt and regret radiating off of Beca in their quiet moments together, and even though Beca never said anything, Emily knew she kept thinking about that night. Both of them were afraid of what would happen if they found themselves alone and at the mercy of the DSM captains. 

The only times they weren’t together was when they were in class or Beca was at her internship. They always hurried back, breathing in relief to step through the front door of the Bella house or into the auditorium and immediately feel the other’s presence.

There were quiet nights spent in the loft, just the two of them, taking easy comfort in the other’s presence. Days pretending they were still alive, distracting the Bellas from the obvious fact that they no longer ate or slept or breathed with a joke or a story.

There was a mutual desire to be close, passing between them unspoken. Emily often looked up from her school reading to find she’d absentmindedly tucked her feet under Beca’s legs on the couch, or Beca had pressed herself up against Emily’s side while she typed on her laptop.

Emily was clingy in a way she’d never experienced, and before, she might’ve felt some uncertainty or shame about it, but now the thought of feeling such a way never occurred to her.

Because if she was clingy, well, it was because Beca was, too.

//

Emily found it odd to be on the receiving end of Beca’s affections. She had, of course, seen Beca laugh with the Bellas, give them hugs. She’d even seen her cuddling on the couch with Chloe a few times.

But Beca wasn’t exactly the needy type, so to have her be so with Emily was disorienting to say the least.

Like the night before their performance at the convention center, when Amy was supposed to be at Bumper’s, but came trudging up to the loft around midnight, surprising the both of them.

“Oh,” she’d said. “You’re still awake. Thank god you have clothes on.”

Emily had scrunched her nose at that, rolling her eyes. She was sitting on the bed, working on an essay, while Beca was at her desk, messing around with her music programs. 

Beca huffed. “Thought you were staying at Bumper’s?”

“Eh,” Amy shrugged, disappearing into the closet. Her response came out muffled. “Changed my mind. Needed some me-time. Don’t want him to get too clingy. Not like you lovebirds.” She emerged from the closet in her sleep-clothes and flopped on her bed. “So, you planning on sleeping soon, or are we just gonna sit here with the lights on all night? Big day tomorrow, you know.”

Emily looked over at Beca, questioning. Usually in cases like this, they’d tell everyone they were going to Emily’s dorm and then end up just going for a drive or on a blood-run. Tonight, though, Emily could feel Beca’s mental exhaustion, her stress. She was tired, they both were, of always avoiding things that would seem suspicious to the Bellas. She could tell Beca had been looking forward to staying in, to having a night where they didn’t have to think about it or make other plans.

So Emily said, “We were just about to go to bed, actually.”

Relief pulsed from Beca, grateful and warm. Emily put her school stuff away while Beca saved her work and shut down her laptop. They turned down the covers, slid into bed. Amy turned off the light. 

And for the first time in months, Emily laid in the dark and tried to fall asleep.

Of course, sleep did not come. It would never come again. But it felt good, she thought, to rest her eyes, to listen to the easy in and out of Amy breathing, to lay inches away from Beca in this tiny twin bed in the dark, their limbs brushing with every movement.

A lazy contentment settled over them as they lay there, pretending to be asleep while across the room, Amy scrolled on her phone, tossed and turned. Eventually, her heart rate slowed, her breathing evened. 

And they knew Amy was asleep.

Emily closed her eyes. Her mind drifted. Beca’s bare feet pressed against her calves. She thought about everything and nothing until her thoughts swallowed her whole.

“What are you thinking about?” Beca whispered after some time. “You’re making me anxious.”

Emily opened her eyes, turning to look at Beca. Beca was facing her, her eyes on Emily’s. Emily gave her a placating smile. 

“Lots of stuff,” she whispered back.

Beca frowned. “No, you were fixating on something you didn’t like.” When Emily didn’t answer, Beca huffed. “We can’t hide from each other, you know. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

Emily’s lips twitched. “Yeah, I know.”

“Tell me.”

“Just…” Emily hesitated, eyes roving over Beca’s face. “I don’t know. Do you think it will… hurt you? If Kommissar dies.”

Beca furrowed her eyebrows. “Hurt me?”

“Because she turned you and you feel what she’s feeling and… You know.”

“Oh.”

“What if it’s like… this big empty gone-ness that’s inside you forever? Like part of you is missing?”

Beca’s nose scrunched in displeasure. “God, I hope not.” 

“If you died, I think I’d feel it. I could feel it when she’d possessed you. I felt everything and then I felt nothing, like you were gone.”

“We’re different,” Beca insisted. “It’s different.”

Doubt coursed through Emily. “What if it’s not?”

“She’s not something I want to be part of me. When we’re close, it’s like this heaviness in the air. It’s not a good feeling. If it was gone, it’d be a relief.”

“Well I hated it.”

“Hm.” Beca pressed closer. Emily felt a sudden smugness bloom between them, teasing and light. “Maybe it’s like she said.”

Emily frowned. “What’s that?”

“That she doesn’t like sharing me. It’s cool, babe, you don’t have to be jealous.”

Emily scoffed. “I’m not  _ jealous _ . What do I even have to be jealous of?”

“Of sharing me. You don’t like it, either.”

“This is so not about that.”

Beca grinned playfully. “Isn’t it?”

“No.” Emily rolled her eyes. “Please. If anything, she should be jealous of me.”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah,” Emily huffed. “Who’s cuddled up with you in bed right now, huh? Not her. Suck it, aca-bitch.”

Beca snorted out a laugh, then covered her mouth, glancing over at Amy. But Amy slept on, breathing heavy and slow.

“Wow, okay,” Beca whispered. “Got it. You’re not jealous.”

“Yeah,” Emily said, adamant. “I’m not.”

“Good. ‘Cause you don’t need to be.” Beca tentatively lifted her hand to Emily’s face, sliding her finger across Emily’s forehead and tucking her hair behind her ear. “Like I’d ever choose her over you.”

Emily had the strangest sensation that she was suffocating, even though she didn’t even need to breathe. “Yeah?”

Beca hummed, her hand settling on Emily’s jaw. “It’s not really even a choice, you know.”

“It’s not?”

“She’s manipulative and shitty, and you’re like…” Beca trailed off, thinking. Her thumb rubbed over Emily’s jaw. “You’re like breathing again.”

Emily didn’t know what to do with all this affection, this warmth. This was not a version of Beca she had ever believed existed, and if she had, she hadn’t believed it would exist with  _ her _ . 

She didn’t know what to say, could not think of a response to save her undead life. 

“Sorry,” Beca murmured. “That was a weird thing to say, wasn’t it.”

She went to pull back, but Emily had anticipated it and she was quicker. She lifted her hand up, covering Beca’s with her own and holding her there. 

“No,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “Not weird. Just…”

Beca’s lips twitched in a half-smile. “Intense?”

Emily nodded. She leaned closer, pressing her forehead to Beca’s. “But a good kind of intense.”

In that small room, in that tiny bed, Emily thought the sudden rush of emotion between them might be too much, too big. It was overwhelming, how close she felt to Beca. How magnified she felt everything. There was so much between them. Trust and fear and attraction, love and worry and wanting.

There was a lot Emily wanted in that moment, as their foreheads pressed together and their noses brushed, both of their hands held steady on Emily’s jaw.

She wanted to think of nothing, to let her body give in to instinct. She wanted to kiss Beca, to hold her tight. She wanted this closeness between them to never disappear. She wanted this -- this trust and intimacy and certainty -- when all was said and done, dead and gone, to last forever, in the very literal sense of the word. 

So maybe it was intense, what Beca was feeling, but Emily felt it, too, and knew it felt, above all else,  _ right _ .

So she let it take over, and leaned in, her nose nuzzling Beca’s. Beca hummed, anticipation and warmth passing between them. Then there was nothing but a centimeter between them, that last, final infinite space they hadn’t yet breached.

Across the room, Amy let out a snore so loud and rough, they both jumped backward.

Emily, who was against the wall, was lucky and had nowhere to go. Beca, who had balanced on the edge of that tiny twin bed, was not as lucky. She flinched backward at the sound, her grip slipping from Emily’s face, and with a loud  _ thump _ , found herself sprawled out on the floor.

“The fuck?” Beca whispered as Amy let out another very loud snore, and the intensity of the moment was sucked from the space. 

Emily looked over the side of the bed with a grin. “Hey. You falling for me?”

Beca pushed herself up on her elbows with a scowl. “Hey. Shut up.”

Emily’s body shook violently as she tried to hold back her laughter so as not to wake Amy. She flopped on her back, palms pressed tight to her mouth to keep the giggles in. 

Beca pushed herself to her feet. “Amy, you bitch,” she grumbled, but it was without malice and Amy was still asleep, another loud snore puncturing the room. She rolled her eyes at Emily. “Okay, it’s not  _ that _ funny.”

Emily pulled her hands away from her mouth, her giggles subsiding. “Yes it is.”

Beca grunted. “Only Amy could manage to cockblock a vampire,” but she said it with fondness. She held her hands out to Emily. “Come on, let’s hit up the hospital. We actually are getting low on blood.”

Emily grabbed Beca’s hands and let her pull her to her feet. “What? You don’t want to stay here and listen to Amy snore.”

“Shockingly, no.”

“But it’s  _ so _ romantic.”

“Shut up. Just shut up.”

Emily grinned. “To be continued, then.”

“Yeah,” Beca agreed, squeezing Emily’s hands. “To be continued.”

//

As Emily looked out from backstage, she felt nauseous. “Full house out there. How did we get this gig again?”

“They called us,” Chloe said, pacing back and forth. 

Was that weird? Emily wondered. She didn’t know. She only knew she did not feel very good. Could vampires get stage-fright still? 

“You know what, guys!” Beca said. “I know we’re trying a lot of new stuff, but I feel like we’re going to get out there, feel the energy, and we’re just going to nail all of it!” She flinched. “Sorry, these braids are just really tight.”

Emily frowned at the lie. She doubted Beca felt any pain from the braids.

They finished getting ready and started to move to the stage. Emily pulled Beca aside.

“Something’s wrong,” she whispered. “I don’t feel good.”

“Me neither.” Beca shrugged. “Maybe it’s from the bus ride. Too much sun.”

Emily hummed, skeptical. They wouldn’t die in the sun, but when they went in it directly, they got nauseous and tired. Feeling it through windows, in the shade, or muted in any way wasn’t usually bad, though. 

They didn’t have time to discuss it further. The lights dimmed, and they were on.

The performance started off fine. Their voices sounded good, they followed the choreography. But as it went on, Emily felt more and more nauseous, more dizzy. 

Something wasn’t right, and as they moved into the prop portion of the performance, Emily almost couldn’t take it.

She closed her eyes, fighting off the feeling. Only to hear Amy scream. 

“She’s on fire!”

Emily’s eyes flew open and she spun around. Cynthia Rose was on the ground, screaming. Everyone was running toward her.

Flo, in the body-wheel, rolled past, yelling. “Help! I’m stuck!”

Emily felt dizzy. The room spun. 

This wasn’t right, she thought. Something wasn’t right. 

All the Bellas rushed to help, fretting over Cynthia Rose, trying to put out the fire. The audience was screaming. They managed to put the fire out, to help Flo down from the wheel.

As the chaos began to calm on stage, Emily felt it still swirling inside her instead. Her knees buckled, and she hit the ground, legs crumpling beneath her.

Beca was at her side in an instant. “Whoa there, Legacy.”

Emily groaned. She felt warm and cold at the same time, and she frowned up at Beca. “Something’s  _ wrong _ . This isn’t…” She lowered her voice. “Human stuff.”

Beca shook her head. “No, it’s just… Bella bad luck. Look, everyone’s fine.”

“It’s not fine,” Emily argued. “You’re all clammy. There’s something going on, Bec.”

Beca hesitated. “I just thought it was from the sun. Do you think… they’re here? I don’t feel them.”

“No,” Emily agreed. “I don’t feel them, exactly, but there is something…”

Nausea swooped in her stomach again. Around her, the Bellas were hugging, arguing, yelling. It was all background noise, right then.

“Come on,” Beca said, heaving Emily to her feet. “Let’s get out of these outfits and then we’ll figure it out.”

They hurried backstage and into the adjacent green room where all their stuff was. Emily collapsed into a chair with a groan, the dizziness swirling in full force.

“Whoa,” Beca was saying. Emily could barely hear her. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

Her hand squeezed Emily’s shoulder in a tight grip. The feeling was overwhelming now, and that’s when Emily realized. It was… like a pulse. A gravitational draw.

And it was coming from this room.

Emily frowned. She didn’t want to focus on it. It went against every instinct. But it was like it was calling to her.

She stood up, moving without thinking. Her legs carried her to Beca’s backpack. With trembling fingers, she slid the zipper open and reached inside.

Frowning, she pulled out Beca’s Bella scarf. Suddenly, red hot pain shot through her body. 

She screamed and dropped the scarf. It did not -- as Emily expected -- fall to the floor. Instead it remained floating in midair. 

“What the fuck?” Beca said from behind her. 

Emily stared at the scarf curiously as it began to spin of its own accord. It whirled, faster and faster, until it was just a blur of yellow and blue in the air.

Then, without warning, it shot through air, attaching itself around Emily’s wrist.

Pain rushed through her and she gasped. She pulled at the scarf, but it tightened its grip.

She screamed. “Get it off, get it off!”

Beca ran to her, her fingers scrambling to pull the scarf off Emily’s wrist. It burned hotter into her skin with every tug, traveling up her arm, higher and higher.

“It’s stuck!” Beca gasped. “It won’t come off!”

Emily felt panic pull at her throat. “Beca, help!”

“I’m trying!” Beca’s fear and desperation clouded the air. Emily searched her brain for an answer and it came to her, through some instinct or self-preservation, that vampire intuition.

“Burn it!”

Beca looked up at her, fingers still tugging at the scarf. “With what?!”

“Lilly has a lighter in her backpack!”

Beca didn’t question it. She ran to Lilly’s backpack and plunged her hand inside. 

The pain was almost unbearable now, traveling from her arm and into her chest.“Beca, hurry!”

Beca grunted. “Got it!”

She ran back to Emily. With shaking hands, she flicked the igniter. 

Nothing happened.

“Beca!”

“Come on, you stupid piece of shit!”

She flicked the igniter again and it caught. Immediately, Beca held the flame to the scarf.

A noise emitted from the scarf, an inhuman shriek, and it loosened its grip on Emily’s wrist. Frantically, she pulled at the fabric as a tendril of fire traveled up the fabric. It slid off her skin and fell to the floor.

The scarf spun about, twisting and turning as it slithered across the floor like a snake. Fire passed from one end to the other, ashy black replacing yellow and blue.

Flame engulfed the scarf, and with a final shriek, it shriveled into a cloud of nothing. From where it had been, a symbol, red and glyph-like burned in the air.

The deep voice of Kommissar laughed as the symbol pulsed. “See you soon, Bellas.”

The glyph faded, the voice disappeared.

And then, there was silence.

The heaviness vanished from the air, Emily’s nausea gone. She groaned in relief.

Beca stepped into her space, reaching for her. “It’s gone,” she said, and her hands clutched at Emily’s cheeks. “Are you okay? It’s gone. I can’t feel it.”

Emily nodded, relief flushing through her. “I’m fine.” She looked at the spot where the scarf had vanished, but there was nothing there to indicate anything out of the ordinary had happened, just the smallest smudge of black on the gray tile of the floor. 

Beca followed her gaze. “Good thing you thought to burn it.”

An overwhelmed kind of chuckled bubbled up her throat. “Vampire intuition.”

“Well, I didn’t think of it. You saved the day. Ugh! Stupid DSM vampires. Chloe’s right. They keep getting the drop on us.”

Emily grunted and pulled Beca to her in a tight hug. “No, they keep trying. And failing. They’ve failed every time. They failed the night Pieter attacked me. She failed to make you kill me. And now they failed again.”

Beca hummed into her shoulder. “Yeah, I guess. We stopped them. Somehow.”

“We did.” Emily leaned back slightly to look Beca in the face. “We’ve stopped them every time. They think just because they’re older and stronger that they can mess with us. But they can’t. We have something they don’t have.”

“Yeah? What’s that?” Beca’s lips twitched like she already knew what Emily was going to say. She probably did.

“Each other.”

Beca rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “We are pretty awesome together aren’t we?”

“We are,” Emily agreed, feeling brave. She nudged her nose against Beca’s, caught up in the moment, in Beca. “Let them throw their vampire tricks at us. We’ll figure it out. Me and you.”

“Me and you,” Beca repeated, the words warm on Emily’s lips. “Together.”

“Together.”

When Beca finally kissed her, Emily knew what Beca had meant the night before.

It was like breathing again.

Warmth spread across her body, down her chest, to her toes. It was fire, not like the burning of the scarf, but pleasant, wanted. 

Beca’s desire was contagious, intoxicating. It filled her up until her head spun, until she could think of nothing else.

“There you are!”

Emily jumped back, head whipping to look at Chloe and the rest of the Bellas as they trudged back into the room.

Amy scoffed. “Really, guys? Making out back here while everything’s going to shit?”

“Sorry,” Beca said. “Emily wasn’t feeling good.”

“Oh, well I’m sure you made her feel  _ much _ better,” Stacie snorted, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah,” Cynthia Rose huffed. “You could help next time.”

Emily was quick to nod. “We’ll definitely help next time. Promise. You can count on us.”

She could feel Beca trying not to laugh and she glanced over. A secret smile passed between them, knowing and warm.

Yes, Emily thought as Beca moved to check on Flo, foot inconspicuously scuffing the burn mark on the floor.

The Bellas could count on them.


	6. Summer Camp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Bellas head to the retreat at the Lodge of Fallen Leaves. Beca and Emily finally come face to face with the vampires who have been terrorizing them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pulled this DSM motive out of my ass so let's just roll with it ok... akdnfewjgw

The day before they would leave for the retreat, it rained. The weekend forecast was warm and sunny, sure to be uncomfortable for any vampire adverse to the sun, so Beca and Emily were taking advantage of the overcast weather as they walked to campus.

“It’s just that I actually disagree and don’t think his take on Charlotte Bronte is fair. The prompt itself is totally guided by lowkey sexism. But I don’t want a bad grade, so I dunno, I’m going back and forth.”

Beca hummed as Emily went on about one of her Lit TAs. She was listening, but she had never really taken many Lit classes in college, so she didn’t particularly understand one way or another. Mainly she was just enjoying Emily’s hand in hers, the easy way their arms swung back and forth between them.

It was nice, she thought. To walk like this, to talk about their assignments, to listen absentmindedly as the other spoke about their day.

“Beca.”

“Hm?” Beca looked over. Emily was giving her a teasing look. “Sorry what did you ask? I zoned out for a sec.”

Emily squeezed her hand. “Never mind. What are you thinking about?”

“Oh. Just how… normal I feel right now.”

Emily hummed in understanding. “You mean like we’re a totally normal couple, holding hands as we walk to class and in no way are enjoying how the sun isn’t making us sick or thinking about how we had to sneak out last night because we’re vampires and our friends can’t know we never sleep?”

Beca’s lips twitched and she held back a grin “Yes. But mostly the part about us being a normal couple.”

“Ha.” Emily gave her an enamored smile. “Sap.”

Beca rolled her eyes. “It’s just nice, okay? To think about normal things like us and school, and not how we’re on the hit list of couple of a possessive psycho killer vamps.”

“Yeah, let’s not think about that,” Emily agreed. “Or I’ll get annoyed that someone’s trying to steal my girlfriend. Like, get your own? Geez.”

Beca chuckled. “Yeah, geez,” she teased.

“Being girlfriends,” Emily mused. “It’s pretty nice, isn’t it?”

“Eh.”

Emily scoffed playfully, dropping Beca’s hand. “Fine, walk alone then.”

There was a gentle gust of wind, and in the next second, she was fifty feet closer to campus, having run ahead with vampire speed.

Beca’s mouth dropped. “Emily,” she hissed, glancing around. But there was no one in the vicinity due to the rain.

“Catch me if you can,” Emily whispered with a laugh, but Beca heard it clear as day. In the next second, Emily had run another block.

“Not cool, dude,” Beca muttered, but she could feel Emily’s playful energy sweeping her up. She rolled her eyes, looked around once more and saw nobody, then focused on the pull inside her.

She swooped into crow-form.

With a flap of her wings, she was in the air, flying above the neighborhood. It was a rush, the wind underneath her, the smell of the air. And she was fast. Faster than Emily, even with her extra speed.

She traversed the blocks to campus quick enough, and before she knew it, she saw Emily below her just on the perimeter of campus. 

It had started to downpour by then, and students were running for cover as quick as they could. Campus was nearly deserted as Beca flew across the parking lot. She overtook Emily easily.

Making sure nobody was watching, she flew to the ground, focused her energy inside her, and returned to human form.

She leaned against a tree just as Emily bounded onto campus in two quick steps. She screeched to a halt in front of Beca, her mouth falling open.

“Hey!” She put her hands on her hips. “How did you beat me? No way!”

Beca smirked. “Running is pretty fast, but nothing beats flying.”

Emily’s mouth fell open. “Cheater!”

“You’re the cheater! You started racing before we even decided to race.”

Emily pouted. “Ugh! You know I’m jealous that I can’t fly!”

“Well next time think of that before you go being all vampirey in broad daylight!”

Emily grinned at her and reached for her hand. “What’s the point of even having these cool powers if we never use them.”

Beca knew she couldn’t resist Emily’s smile, her energy, but still, she tried. “It’s a bad habit. Someone is gonna see.”

“Aw.” Emily pulled her closer, nuzzling her nose into Beca’s cheek. “Come on, I know you had fun.”

Beca grunted, fighting off a smile. “I don’t get how that’s relevant.”

Emily laughed into her skin. “It’s totally relevant. It’s the only relevant thing.”

“You’re cheesy, Emily Junk. Anyone ever tell you that?”

“You love it, though.”

Beca thought about denying it, but she knew lying to Emily was pointless. Emily would know. Emily could probably feel how much Beca liked it anyway. “It’s fine,” she said, in some sad attempt to save face, which obviously didn’t work because Emily chuckled.

“Right,” she said, teasing. “ _ Fine _ .” 

Beca hmphed. “So I guess I’ll see you after class?”

Emily hummed. She pulled back to look at Beca, her eyes playful. “Not yet.”

“Oh?”

“No.” Then Emily kissed her, soft and sweet. It made Beca’s insides twist, her stomach swooping when Emily’s tongue licked into her mouth.

“What are you doing?” Beca asked, voice low and amused. It was not that she didn’t like it, but because Emily had, so far, not indulged in much PDA.

She could feel Emily’s smile against her lips. “Kissing my girlfriend.”

“In the rain?”

“Vampires,” Emily said seriously, her grip on Beca shifting, “deserve a little romance, too.”

And with that, she dipped Beca backward in a kiss, catching her just above the ground. Then she swooped her back to her feet, and with a final kiss, released her.

Beca was entirely speechless.

Emily laughed and kissed her on the cheek, soft and lingering. “Well, see you after class,” she murmured against Beca’s skin.

And with that she was gone, leaving Beca standing in the rain, running late for class, and, somehow, effectively romanced.

//

The retreat did not pass without a hitch. There were many hitches, in fact, and most of them were caused by Beca and her temper.

It’s not that she didn’t want to be there, and it’s not that she didn’t love the Bellas, it’s just that she was under a lot of stress coming at her from like, twelve different directions in her life, and they just couldn’t possibly understand that.

And frankly, she was getting so damn tired of holding in all these secrets. Something was bound to slip through the cracks.

At least, she thought, as she found herself hoisted up in the air and just  _ barely _ controlled the flighty urge inside her to shift into crow-form in front of the Bellas, it was the internship secret that came out, and not any of the vampire secrets.

“Bear traps,” Aubrey was saying as they got Beca down. “We had a few sightings and it’s for everyone’s safety.”

“That’s so weird,” Jessica said conversationally. “There’s not usually bears in this area. I mean, there’s not really even any in Georgia at all.”

Lovely, thought Beca. What a stupid camp.

//

That night after the campfire, when all the Bellas had finally fallen asleep, Beca and Emily crept from the tent.

Silently, Emily held her hand out and Beca grabbed it, locking their fingers together as they walked throughout the camp. Summer was just on the horizon, and the air was still and heavy with humidity.

They walked the camp in silence for a while, lost in thought. Finally, Emily turned to Beca.

“Did you mean what you said earlier? About collaborating?”

Beca frowned at the uncertain question. It wasn’t often she felt insecurity between them. “Yeah, of course. Why would you even ask that?”

“I dunno,” Emily said. She gave Beca’s hand a squeeze. “I was just thinking.”

Beca waited, but Emily didn’t elaborate. An unfamiliar doubt was rolling off of Emily in waves. Beca stopped walking, keeping hold of Emily’s hand. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Emily said. “I just realized, back there at the fire. You’re gonna graduate. And I’m not.”

Beca wasn’t following. “Yeah, so?”

“So?” Emily frowned. “So we won’t be in the same place anymore. You’re gonna go get a job and I’m still gonna be in school, and, like, then what? You’re gonna leave, and it’s gonna suck.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Beca shook her head. “Hang on a sec, dude. Who said anything about me leaving?”

Emily made a disbelieving noise. “Why would you stay around Barden? That doesn’t make sense. All the jobs you want are in, like, LA or New York.”

“Then I’ll apply for other jobs and I’ll wait.”

“Beca.”

“What? I’m serious.” Beca shrugged. “Anyway, there are lots of producer gigs in Atlanta. It’s not that far.” When Emily said nothing, Beca grabbed her other hand so she had both of Emily’s between her own. “Dude, I’m not leaving you. No way.”

Emily gave her a searching look. “Don’t put your life on hold because of me. That’s dumb.”

“Come on,” Beca rolled her eyes. “Put my life on hold? We’re vampires. My life is literally eternally on hold. What’s an extra three years when I have literally forever to do whatever I’m gonna do.”

She could feel Emily wavering, and pushed on. “I mean, it’s cute and stuff that you think we need to have this discussion and you have to be all chivalrous and tell me to move on with my life and that I shouldn’t wait for you, but we just don’t need to do this. It’s not the same.”

“I dunno, Bec, it’s weird.”

“Course it is, bud. We’re vampires.” Emily laughed at that and Beca grinned. “I’m not leaving and you won’t convince me to.” She softened, meeting Emily’s eyes. “I want to be together, not apart.”

Emily softened, squeezing Beca’s hands. “Yeah?”

Beca shrugged. “You should know by now. We’re in this together.”

Emily looked at her for a long moment, and in that time, the insecurity drifted away. Then there was only warmth. “You’re kind of sweet, you know.”

“Eh,” Beca scoffed, but she couldn’t help the smile that pulled at her lips. She leaned in, up on her toes so their lips brushed. “Vampires deserve a little romance, too, don’t you think?”

Emily chuckled and Beca felt it on her lips. She pushed Emily backward a few steps, pressing her back into a tree, and brought their lips together.

It hadn’t lost its magic, Beca thought. Kissing Emily. And she had kissed Emily quite a lot by then. It just didn’t compare to kissing anyone else.

The softness of her lips. The way she held Beca close. That easy understanding passing between them, growing stronger every second, want and desire and trust.

And there were new sensations, too. Like how they never needed to pull back to breathe. How it tickled when Emily dragged her fangs along Beca’s throat, playful and sharp. How she knew exactly what Emily liked without words, that connection hot and wanting between them.

So she never got used to it, thought she might never, really. She could kiss Emily against this tree until the sun came up without a thought in the world, her brain turning foggy, the air turning heavy.

But no… wait. That wasn’t right, was it?

She pulled back, quick and sudden.

Emily chased her, pouting. “What?”

Beca closed her eyes, listening, searching with everything she possessed. Another presence nudged up against her awareness, unpleasant and cold.

Her eyes flew open. “They’re  _ here _ .”

Emily must have felt her fear, because she didn’t ask who. “Where? How?”

“I don’t know!”

Beca grabbed Emily by the hand and they started to run, as fast as they could, back toward the camp.

Suddenly, a dark shape bounded in their path. Emily squeaked. They dropped hands as they both dodged in opposite directions. Beca flung herself to the side, rolling in the leaves.

She pushed herself up as the shape spun back around to face her.

It was a huge bear, dark and grizzled, maw wet. It bared its teeth at her in a grin. Beca took off running.

It chased her, paws thumping against the wet ground. Beca was fast, but the bear was faster, and before she had time to think, it had cornered her, back against a tree. Fear swept Beca up, pressed against her throat, and she closed her eyes, expecting the worst.

The bear laughed.

Or… someone laughed.

Beca peeked her eyes open. Where the bear had been stood a familiar lanky vampire. He grinned at her as another figure jumped down from a nearby tree, landing in a crouch. She stood up, and suddenly, Beca was facing both DSM captains.

“Hello, there,” Kommissar grinned, persuasive and slicing. There was a pull in Beca’s chest, painful and heavy. She thought she might be sick.

She leaned back against the tree for support, considered running, wondered if she could assume her crow-form quick enough to escape. She felt certain she couldn’t, certain Kommissar would know what she was doing before she could even try it.

She was fucked.

Except -- suddenly, another presence. Warm. Welcome.

Furious.

Emily flung herself across Beca, sliding to a halt in front of her. She reached one hand toward Beca, the other held up in front of her protectively.

Emily’s anger was radiant, blotting out Beca’s fear. Suddenly, Beca felt nothing but Emily’s rage.

“Stop!” Emily cried. “Not another step.”

Pieter laughed. “Or what? You’ll give us... how would you say it here? A palm-five?” He pretended to jovially slap Emily’s hand, the one held in front of her.

“It’s a high-five, and it’s super underrated. You’re not cool enough to get one.” Emily scoffed. Beca’s eyes widened, amazed and flabbergasted. Her girlfriend was either very brave or very stupid.

“Cutting,” Kommissar smirked. “You wound us, tiny infant.”

“What do you want?” Emily asked, voice surprisingly steady. “Haven’t you done enough? Leave us alone.”

Kommissar gave a thoughtful hum. “We just want to chat. To tell you our side of the story. That’s not so bad, now, is it?”

Emily said nothing, and Kommissar smiled. “Very well. If you must know, it was only our intention to turn one of you.” Her eyes flicked to Beca, brimming with hunger. “I’ve been in need of a Second for some time. I saw the tiny mouse at the car show. You should be grateful,” she said to Beca. “You were chosen.”

Beca huffed, but that pull brimmed in her stomach. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was strong and she wobbled on her feet. Emily’s hand pressed into her stomach, grounding her.

“You, on the other hand,” Kommissar said to Emily. “You were just a snack for Pieter here. An accident. Had he not botched it so completely, you would not even be here to see what all the fuss is about. Ah well, it just goes to show you. Even your elders are capable of mistakes.”

“Whoopsies,” Pieter shrugged, grinning cruelly.

“No matter,” Kommissar continued. “We can take you both in. There is always room in the coven for those like us.”

Emily squeaked. “Coven?”

“Yes, come with us and you can meet everyone.”

“Come with you? No. No way.”

“That is your choice,” Kommissar said with a shrug. “But she is bound by the rites of the Bite to me, just as you are bound to her. So you both will come. It is inevitable.”

Emily scoffed. “We’re not going anywhere with you.”

“Oh, don’t be like this.” Pieter groaned. “It is so dull.”

“Hush, Pieter.” Kommissar waved a hand. “If you will not come, then we will be forced to fight or take another. And let me be frank with you. If you fight us, you will not win. And as for another, well,” she gave a coy grin that Beca felt in her chest, “which Bella would you prefer?”

Emily’s anger flamed. “You’re not taking any of them.”

“No? How about a deal, then?”

“Absolutely not,” Emily shot back, but Beca sidestepped her, taking a step forward.

“What kind of deal?” She asked, the first thing she’d been able to speak since she’d felt Kommissar here.

Emily gaped at her. “Beca.”

Kommissar beamed, showing her fangs. “The competition in Copenhagen. You are still attending, I presume.” When Beca nodded, Kommissar gave a pleased hum. “Good. If the Bellas win, we walk away from the whole affair. What’s done is done and you are free to continue on your own.”

“And if you win?” Beca asked.

“Then you come with us. Join the coven. You will be my Second.” Kommissar tilted her head toward Emily. “You can even bring  _ her _ if you like. For when you get bored.”

Beca frowned. “And if we say no, then…”

“I will be angry. And none of your Bellas will be safe.”

“Ugh!” Emily scowled. “You could have your pick of any people in the world, what do you have against the Bellas?”

“Oh, nothing in particular. I’m just very possessive, you know.” She made chilling eye contact with Beca. 

Beca shivered. “Fine,” she said through gritted teeth. “We accept the deal.”

“Beca!” Emily said, her rage pulsing like betrayal through Beca. But Beca knew it was the only option that kept the Bellas out of it.

“We can’t risk the Bellas,” she said calmly, and Emily deflated.

“Smart girl,” Kommissar grinned. “Very well. We have a deal.”

Beca crossed her arms. “And you’ll stay out of it until the competition?”

“Of course. It will be a fair match.” She shot Beca a wink and turned to go.

“Wait,” Beca said. “Just one question. Why competitive a cappella? I mean, what’s the point?”

Kommissar laughed. “Oh, you’ll come to learn that after an eternity of life, you acquire all sorts of interesting hobbies. And winning,” she paused, grinning at Beca over her shoulder, “gives me such a rush.”

And on that final note, the two vampires disappeared into the darkness.


	7. Haunted Circus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Bellas head to a Copenhagen carnival to celebrate their victory at Worlds. Despite their deal, the DSM vampires aren’t willing to let Beca and Emily escape without a fight. Cornered in the creepy fun house, Beca and Emily must fight for their lives or risk losing the Bellas forever. The stakes are at their highest in this creepy carnival showdown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> circus... carnival... close enough?????? lmao

If they lost, the plan was this:

Beca would cooperate and go with the DSM vampires to join their creepy coven. Emily would stay behind to make sure they kept their word about leaving the disbanded Bellas alone. Once the smoke had cleared, she would join Beca and they would figure it out from there.

It wasn’t a plan either of them liked, but they didn’t feel they had much of a choice if they wanted to keep the Bellas out of it. 

As they stepped backstage for their performance, Emily wished with all her might that it wouldn’t matter. That the Bellas would win, that DSM would leave them alone, that everyone would come out of this whole stupid situation, maybe not  _ alive _ in the typical sense of the word, but at least in one piece.

Around her, the Bellas were getting dressed, applying finishing touches to their makeup. She knew no matter what happened, it would never be like this again. Vampire drama or not, the Bellas were graduating, moving on with their lives. 

Emily loved them all so much and in her chest, she felt the bittersweet sting that builds when good things come to an end

“Hey,” Beca said, her fingers sliding between Emily’s. “They’re gonna be fine.”

Emily gave a feeble chuckle, still amazed at how easily Beca was able to know what she was feeling and why. “No, yeah, I know. I’m just…”

“Gonna miss them? Yeah, me too.” 

Emily nodded, turning to look at Beca. “Let’s win, okay? I don’t want to go. And I don’t want you to go without me.”

Beca gave her a confident smile. “Nobody’s going anywhere. We got this.” Then she lowered her voice. “The stake is in my backpack. Anything fishy happens, stab the bitch.”

Emily snorted. “Yeah, okay.”

“I’m serious.”

“I know.” There were so many things Emily wanted to say then, but she couldn’t find the words. She guessed it didn’t matter. Beca probably knew anyway. Carefully, she leaned down to press her lips to Beca’s, a wish for everything to be okay.

Beca hummed against her lips. When she pulled back she was smiling. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go kick some vampire ass.”

//

When she’d thought about it previously, Emily hadn’t found the idea of staking someone through the chest, vampire or not, very appealing.

Now, though, she was starting to reconsider. 

“Don’t cry too hard when you lose,” Kommissar was saying, her hand on Beca’s jaw. Emily stiffened, resisting the strong urge to place her body between Kommissar and Beca, preferably while holding a wooden stake.

“Your hands are so soft,” Beca murmured. Emily gritted her teeth. 

Kommissar was saying some other condescending things, then, but Emily was having trouble listening. Mainly she was imagining just what happens when vampires get staked. Do they just keel over and die? Would they bleed? Would it be satisfying?

“Your sweat smells like cinnamon!” Beca yelled after the retreating form of Kommissar as DSM migrated to the stage. 

Yes, thought Emily. Staking one vampire in particular might be  _ very _ satisfying indeed.

//

Turns out, they hadn’t needed their plan after all.

“We won!”

“We did it!”

“BELLAS! BELLAS!”

The second they’d been announced as the winner, Emily had wrapped Beca up in her arms and she was very reluctant to let go. Beca was beaming, face smushed into Emily’s chest.

“We’re staying,” Emily whispered. She almost couldn’t believe it.

“We’re staying,” Beca repeated, grinning.

Emily gave a nervous laugh. “And the Bellas are okay.”

“The Bellas are great,” Beca agreed.

“Wow.”

“Let me go, nerd,” Beca chuckled. 

Emily pulled back, choosing instead to grab Beca’s cheeks between her palms. Happiness and relief washed over them. Emily could’ve cried, although she wasn’t sure she was still capable of such a thing. 

She couldn’t stop smiling, staring at Beca. Beca was shining and radiant and perfect. 

And she wanted Emily. Not anyone else.  _ Her _ .

Nothing could bring her down in that moment.

Not even Kommissar, stomping away, shooting a last murderous look at them over her shoulder as she went.

//

They spent the next day taking in more Copenhagen sights with the Bellas.

Beca and Emily couldn’t even complain. The weather was cloudy, a dreary overcast sky blocking the sun.

Emily was so happy, walking the streets hand-in-hand with Beca, following the Bellas without a care in the world, that she was nearly delirious with it all.

It felt, she thought absentmindedly, almost too good to be true.

//

There was a small summer carnival happening a few blocks from their hotel. A last fun hurrah before they headed back home.

They all squished in on the teacup ride, rode the ferris wheel, played the games. Typical carnival stuff. Even the food.

“We’re gonna get funnel cake,” Chloe called to them from a few game stalls down. “You wanna come?”

“You go ahead,” Emily waved her off. Beca was trying the game where you knock the bottles over with a ball, but even despite her vampire strength, was having zero success. 

“Ugh,” Beca grumbled as she finally gave up on the game. She zipped her wallet back in her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. “Game is rigged.”

Emily chuckled as they walked away from the game. “Yeah, obviously.” Then she pouted. “Ugh, sometimes not eating is kind of nice, but sometimes it’s depressing. Like, I can’t even remember the last time I had funnel cake. I didn’t get to appreciate it properly.”

Beca shot her a small smile. “Know what I miss? Funyuns.”

“Funyuns?” Emily grimaced. “Of all things to miss, you miss  _ Funyuns _ ?”

“Hey! I like them. Or… liked them.” She laughed at the look on Emily’s face. “Come on, let’s find something to take your mind off it. How about the Fun House? We haven’t done that yet.”

The Fun House seemed to be one of the least popular attractions at the carnival. It was nearly deserted when they handed over their tickets and made their way inside.

“Ugh, I hate these things,” Beca groaned as she followed Emily across a rickety bridge, the room around it dark and black to hide the floor beneath.

“What? Are you afraid of heights?”

“No,” Beca scoffed. “I’m nearly indestructible. Why would I be afraid of heights?”

Emily grinned back at her. “Uh huh.”

“Shut up.” Beca adjusted her backpack on her shoulder. “You’re kind of rude, Legacy. And to think I may spend eternity with you.”

Emily stepped off the bridge and turned back, spreading her arms so both hands were on opposite railings, effectively trapping Beca on the bridge. “Well,” she mused, “that’s a choice you made when you turned me. You have nobody to blame but yourself.”

Beca grunted as she came to a halt at the end of the bridge. “Yeah, don’t make me regret it.”

Emily let out a playful gasp. “That hurts, Beca.” She gently shook the railings of the bridge so the whole thing wobbled.

“Emily!” 

“Take it back.”

“Okay, geez! I take it back! It was the best decision of my life!”

Emily let go of the railings with a smirk. “That’s what I thought.”

“Hmph.” Beca nudged Emily backward so she could step off the bridge. “I created a monster.”

“You literally did.” She took Beca’s hand with a smile and they continued through the Fun House. They moved through a room that spun, stairs that tipped side-to-side, and several anticlimactic air-jets.

“No wonder nobody is in this thing,” Beca said. “It’s kind of lame.”

Emily hummed in agreement. “Well here,” she said as they entered another room. “Hall of Mirrors.” She chuckled as she looked at their reflections in the first mirror, which had distorted their bodies so they were shorter and fatter.

Beca snorted. “Kind of ironic, don’t you think? Hall of Mirrors.”

Emily grinned over at her as they continued down the hall past a whole slew of body-distorting mirrors. “I’m glad we can still see ourselves. Imagine choosing an outfit without a mirror for literally the rest of forever. So annoying.”

They entered what was clearly the final part of the hall. A full room of slanted mirrors, reflecting back on each other so it was almost impossible to discern reflection from reality.

Emily looked in the mirror closest to them, admiring their reflections. “You know,” she said. “We look pretty good together.”

“Yeah, dude, we have flawless vampire skin.”

Emily rolled her eyes, smiling. “I just meant me and you. Together.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re a sap, we get it. Ugh.” Beca groaned as they looked in the mirror. “These things are making me dizzy.”

“Dizzy?”

“Yeah,” Beca whispered, voice tight. She clutched at her chest, eyes widening.

Emily frowned at Beca’s reflection. She was about to respond when another face drifted into view behind them.

The familiar, gorgeously pale face of Kommissar.

Emily jumped, immediately whipping around. But there was nobody behind them.

Kommissar laughed, her disembodied voice coming from seemingly everywhere. “Surprise, Bellas.”

Beca jerked on Emily’s hand, pulling her down the hall toward what she thought was the exit. Around them, an infinite amount of Kommissars reflected back at them from the mirrors.

“It’s cute you think you can run,” she purred. Suddenly, there was a forceful yank on Emily’s shirt and her hand slipped from Beca’s. She flew back through the air, crashing against one of the mirrors. It shattered around her, glass raining down like confetti.

“EMILY!” Beca screamed and Emily reached her, but slammed her hand into a mirror instead. Despair clenched around her throat. She couldn’t tell what was reflection and what was truly Beca. Their reflections multiplied around the room, a kaleidoscope of dizzy confusion everywhere Emily turned.

She tried to push herself up, but a boot kicked her in the stomach and she sailed another few feet through the air, coming to rest in a heap on the floor.

Next to her, there was movement, and Emily felt wind brush across her face as Kommissar darted after Beca. Without thinking, she picked up a shard of glass and stabbed it down toward the moving body. It missed skin, but it caught the edge of Kommissar’s jacket, pinning it to the floor.

Kommissar hissed, easily yanking her arm away, but it had given Emily enough time to roll and stand. Kommissar swung at her again and Emily jumped backward, dodging it.

“What is your problem, lady?” She shrieked, ducking another punch. 

She skipped out of the way, searching for Beca, but even Beca’s reflection had disappeared. She dodged as Kommissar spun into a kick. Her foot connected with another mirror and it cracked.

“I want what is  _ mine _ by right!”

“You’re crazy!”

Kommissar swung again and Emily managed to dodge it, just barely. They danced around the space, Emily not even having the opportunity to do anything but avoid getting hit. Kommissar was faster, smarter, bigger, and angrier than she was. Emily was small and she was scared. She could only dodge for so long before she slipped up. Kommissar’s fist jabbed and Emily swerved, only to have her feet knocked out from under her.

She grunted and went down, her legs tangled beneath her. Kommissar was on top of her before she could even get her bearings.

“Finally,” she growled, hovering over Emily. “Finally, this ends.”

“We had a deal!” Emily yelled, crawling backward as fast as she could. Her back nudged up against a mirror, still intact. She was trapped. 

Kommissar let out a tsk. “Come now, you didn’t actually think a vampire’s promise was sacred, did you? You naive little fool.” She dragged a finger over Emily’s cheek and Emily cringed. “Shame. You are a pretty one. There is so much we could teach you.”

“Beca doesn’t even want to go with you!”

“She just doesn’t understand, but in time she will. If she feels the way she does, it’s only because you’re in the way, pulling her in two directions. Once you’re gone, her path will be clear.” Kommissar gave her a pitying look.

Emily didn’t even have it in her to feel afraid. She was furious that after all this, she would die, just like that. There were so many things she had yet to do, so many things she wanted to say.

To her family, to the Bellas. 

To Beca.

_ I love you _ , she thought, hoping Beca would feel it.  _ And I’m sorry. _

“Once, I’ve killed you,” Kommissar continued, leaning in. She loomed over Emily, menacing as she drew even closer. “You will have been just a sad, temporary blip in her life. She will forget you as the years pass. A vampire’s life is very long. Well, usually.” She chuckled, her finger still on Emily’s cheek. “It will just be me and her, forever and ever, and you will have been nothing more than a dream to her. What do you think about that?”

Suddenly, a wave of warmth washed over her. It was desperate. Determined.

Beca.

Instinctually, without thinking, Emily stuck her arm out as an oblong shape flew through the air from behind Kommissar. She caught it, the blunt edge familiar in her hand.

“I think,” she said, and with all her might, plunged the sharp point of the stake through Kommissar’s chest. “If you’re going to kill someone, kill them! Don’t stand there talking about it.”

Kommissar gasped, looking down. Her eyes widened in shock. Emily thrust the stake backward, pulling it out of the vampire’s body. The moment it was free, Kommissar exploded in a cloud of dust.

And just like that, she was gone.

Emily stared at the space she’d been, dumbstruck. Exhaustion gripped her suddenly and she slumped backward against the wall, shaking. The stake rolled from her fingers, landing amid the shattered glass around her. 

Then there was Beca, kneeling at her side. “Em?” She whispered, patting over Emily’s face. “Are you okay? Did she hurt you?”

Emily shook her head. “I’m -- I’m fine. She’s dead? I think.”

“Holy shit. You staked her, dude.” Beca’s mouth hung open. “You just --” Beca mimed plunging the stake. “And poof!”

“Yeah,” Emily said weakly. She hadn’t felt this tired in months. Since she’d become a vampire, really. “Yeah, I guess I did.” She looked at Beca wearily. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! I got lost in the stupid mirrors for a second when she came out of nowhere. I heard her screaming at you but I couldn’t find my way back. Finally I just punched my way through one back there…” Beca chuckled uncomfortably. “Um, we kinda smashed up this fun house…”

Emily grunted. She couldn’t find it in her to care much at the moment. “How do you feel?” She asked, slightly afraid of the answer. “Now that she’s gone.”

Beca gave her a reassuring smile. “I feel great. Better than great. It’s like a thousand tons lifted from my shoulders. But…” Tentatively, Beca reached for her. She pulled Emily to her chest, wrapping her up. “Not gonna lie, dude, that was the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me. I thought she was gonna… you know.”

“Yeah,” Emily nodded, her nose pressed to Beca’s shoulder. She thought if she still needed to breathe, she might have started to hyperventilate. “Me, too.”

“Well, if she did,” Beca said, voice serious. “I would’ve avenged you, dude. She was delusional if she thought I was gonna go with her! Forget you? Yeah fucking right. Bitch.”

Emily let out a weak laugh. “Well, when you live forever, you’re bound to forget people.”

Beca pulled back, frowning. “Not you. Come on. I mean, I love you, how could I forget you?”

Emily’s entire body tingled. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Beca smirked. “Plus, you said that totally badass line before you killed her. I’ll never forget that. It was kinda sexy.”

Emily snorted, choosing to ignore that. “Good throw on the stake, by the way.”

Beca grinned. “Good catch.”

“I love you, too, you know,” Emily said, lost in the blue of Beca’s eyes, in the exhaustion, in the connection, so fine-tuned, vibrating between them. 

“Yeah, I know.” Beca pressed a kiss to her lips, chaste but lingering. “Come on, let’s get out of here before they realize we fucked this place up.”

Beca heaved her to her feet, keeping hold of her hand. With the other, she grabbed the stake and shoved it back in her backpack.

“What about Pieter?” Emily asked, paranoid he’d pop out of nowhere, too.

Beca shrugged, frowning. “No sign of him. Let’s not think about it, I’m too tired. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Emily nodded, letting Beca lead her from the Fun House. As soon as they were back outside, they looked for the Bellas, hoping to put as much distance between themselves and the shattered Hall of Mirrors as possible.

They found the Bellas after a minute, sitting at a picnic table and finishing up their funnel cakes. They were mid-conversation as Beca and Emily walked up.

“Probably one of those old abandoned European castles,” Stacie was saying. “They’re the perfect blend of mysterious and sexy.”

Chloe laughed. “No way, it’s probably a creepy haunted mansion.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Emily asked curiously.

Cynthia Rose chuckled. “We were just wondering what type of place those creepy DSM members live in.”

“Do you think they all live together?” Jessica mused. 

“Oh, one hundred percent,” Stacie nodded. “They’re probably part of some weird cult.”

“Like vampires,” Ashley laughed.

“Or werewolves,” Flo agreed.

Emily and Beca exchanged an alarmed look. “Werewolves?” Emily said, letting out a nervous chuckle. “Very funny.”

“They exist,” whispered Lilly.

Emily chose to pretend she didn’t hear that.

“You guys wanna get out of here?” Beca asked, jerking her head toward the carnival exit. “It’s getting late.”

The Bellas agreed and they started the journey back to their hotel.

“Are we ever gonna tell them?” Emily wondered, watching as the Bellas walked ahead of them, laughing at one of Amy’s jokes. “What happens when they start to age and we don’t?”

Beca hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I have no idea what we’re gonna do about any of it.”

“There’s a lot to decide, I guess.”

“There is,” Beca agreed. “And we will.” She gave Emily a soft smile, squeezing her hand. “Together.”

It was a lot, Emily knew. There was so much ahead of them they didn’t know, so much to figure out.

But Beca was right.

Whatever they did, they would do it together. For now, that was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you made it to the end of this silly ridiculous fic, thanks for reading!! it was definitely out of my comfort zone, but i had fun with this universe and trying to fit it to the prompts. if you're interested, you can find moodboards and things for this au on my tumblr at emilyjunk.tumblr.com/tagged/vampire au.

**Author's Note:**

> FANGS for reading. emilyjunk.tumblr.com :D


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